6 Recreational Marijuana Shops Approved On Long Island

LONG ISLAND, NY — New York's cannabis control board has approved the 36 conditional adult use retail dispensary licenses.

Six of those recreational marijuana shops will be sited across Long Island, New York's Office of Cannabis Management told Patch.

According to a release by the state's control board, the conditional adult-use retail dispensary, or CAUR, license is a central pillar of the New York State Seeding Opportunity Initiative. Through the Initiative, New York’s first legal adult-use retail dispensaries will be operated by those most impacted by the enforcement of the prohibition of cannabis or nonprofit organizations whose services include support for the formerly incarcerated. These dispensaries will be making the first legal adult-use sales with cannabis products grown by New York farmers.

The Office of Cannabis Management received more than 900 applications for CAURD licenses, the release said. At Monday's meeting, the board approved 36 provisional licensees, including 28 qualifying individuals and 8 nonprofit CAURD applicants. At least one CAURD license was granted in each available region of the state.

Following is the breakdown on Long Island, according to the OCM:

Long Island:

- Brian Stark Enterprises LLC: Owned by Brian Stark on Long Island. For 11 years Brian Stark, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Aqua wash laundry corp., a self-serve laundomat based out of Brooklyn that provided wash and fold services, dry cleaning services, and retail items for laundry, the OCM said.

- Albert D Capraro: Owned by Albert Capraro on Long Island. For 10 years, Albert Capraro, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Long Island Glass Replacement Inc, a retail storefront that sold glass doors, showers, windshields, and installations in Commack, the OCM said.

- Strain Stars LLC: Owned by Kamaldeep Singh, Tushar Mallick, Jasmin Kaur, Kamaldeep Singh, Darminder Sing, and Gurmeet Sing on Long Island. For five years Kamaldeep Singh, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Whitestone Mart Inc, a gas station in Whitestone, with a retail storefront attached to it. Singh also holds a hemp cannabinoid retail license issued by the Office of Cannabis Management.

- Root 13, LLC: Owned by Harpreet Singh and Manjit Singh on Long Island. For two years, Harpreet Singh, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Just Accounting, LLC, an accounting, tax, bookkeeping, and payroll company based out of Flushing, the OCM said.

- Growth Industries NY, LLC: Owned by Daniel Connolly and GI New York, LLC on Long Island. For four years, Daniel Connolly, a justice involved applicant, owned and operated Hemp Clouds, LLC, a Retail Smoke Shop in Centereach, the OCM said.

- Keep it 100 LLC: Owned by Marquis Hayes, Christina Johnson, James Kahn and Kim Stetz on Long Island. For five years, Marquis Hayes, justice-involved appplicant, owned and operated Brown Butter New York, a high-end catering & specialty foods company, the OCM said.

- Hydo Phonics: Owned by John Alvarez and Bryan Whalen on Long Island. For five years, John Alvarez, a justice involved applicant and licensed contractor owned and operated J & G Construction Management a retail sale, home construction and remodel servicing business in Suffolk County.

Up to 175 licenses will be granted in total: as many as 150 to individual applicants and up to 25 to nonprofit applicants will receive them, the release said.

To be eligible, applicants were required to either have had a cannabis conviction themselves, or
be the family member of someone who has, and have owned a profitable business. Nonprofits
were eligible if they had a history of serving current or formerly incarcerated individuals, including creating vocational opportunities for them; have at least one justice involved board member; at least five full time employees; and have operated a social enterprise that had net assets or profit for at least two years.

Over the last 30 years, black New Yorkers were 15 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis than white New Yorkers; for Latinos, it was eight times more likely, the release said. Therefore, the majority of the license awardees announced Monday were people of color.

“Today is a monumental day for New York’s nascent cannabis industry. With the first adult-use retail dispensary licenses in the hands of businesses and eligible nonprofits, we’ve ensured the first sales will be made at dispensaries operated by those impacted by the unjust enforcement of cannabis prohibition,” said Tremaine Wright, chair of the Cannabis Control Board. “This is just the start, we will continue to work to build an industry that is open to anyone who wants to participate. Many thanks to Governor Kathy Hochul and her unwavering support as we all work to make sure New York has the most equitable and inclusive cannabis industry in the nation.”

In August, when the application portal for adult-use marijuana dispensaries opened in New York, it was revealed that a total of 20 conditional licenses would be available for Long Island.

The application process was one of the last steps toward opening recreational marijuana dispensaries in New York by the year's end.

New York legalized recreational marijuana in March 2021.

“The primary goal of the conditional adult-use retail dispensary (CAURD) license is to create opportunities for New Yorkers harmed most by the prohibition of cannabis," Aaron Ghitelman of the OCM told Patch. "Part of that is granting up to 150 CAURD licenses to individuals who themselves, or their close family members, have had past eligible cannabis related offenses and have ownership stakes in profitable businesses. Individuals who receive CAURD licenses will have access to the $200 million social equity cannabis fund and the turnkey storefronts currently being secured and built out by Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, or DASNY. This first-in-the-nation fund will give these entrepreneurs the capital necessary to compete in New York’s adult-use cannabis market."

The cannabis management office plans to grant up to 25 licenses to non-profit organizations as a way of creating additional workforce development opportunities for justice-involved New Yorkers, Ghitelman said.

"Unlike individuals who receive CAURD licenses, these nonprofit applicants will not have access to the fund and will be required to provide their own compliant storefronts in order to receive a CAURD license," he said. "These dispensaries will help create further job opportunities for justice-involved individuals while their operations will support the important work the non profit organizations are already doing across New York State.”

Individuals with prior cannabis-related offenses were tapped to make the first adult-use cannabis sales with products grown by New York farmers, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in March.

Hochul unveiled the first-in-the-nation "Seeding Opportunity Initiative", a farm-to-store plan that she said will make sales in New York possible before the end of 2022, jumpstart New York's cannabis industry, guarantee support for future equity applicants, and secure an early investment into communities most impacted by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition.

"New York State is making history, launching a first-of-its-kind approach to the cannabis industry that takes a major step forward in righting the wrongs of the past," Hochul said.

The regulations advanced by the cannabis control board will prioritize local farmers and entrepreneurs, creating jobs and opportunity for "communities that have been left out and left behind," she said. "I'm proud New York will be a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building."