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The storefront on Allen Street, on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, proudly sports a cannabis leaf logo on its awning. Beyond the security workers who check ID at the door, buds, edibles and pre-rolled joints are on open display in glass cases. There isn\u2019t the slightest hint of stealth or disguise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is one of three\u00a0Empire Cannabis Clubs<\/a>\u00a0locations around the city\u2014the others are up the island in Chelsea and across the East River in Williamsburg. Co-owner Jonathan Elfand says three more are planned\u2014for Hell\u2019s Kitchen, the Upper East Side and Greenpoint.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking to Cannabis Now in a small park across from the establishment, Elfand boasts of his legacy credentials. \u201cI\u2019ve been messing with the marijuana trade in New York City since the 1980s,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve grown weed in New York, sold weed in New York. I\u2019ve been arrested numerous times, including on federal cultivation charges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Elfand says including the 10-year term from that bust in \u201998, he\u2019s spent 14 years behind bars for cannabis.\u00a0 And Elfand insists the law is on his side, dismissing the terms used in the media to describe his enterprise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve read through the law. This isn\u2019t a \u2018gray area\u2019 or a \u2018loophole,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cAs long as you are transferring it hand-to-hand without profit, it is not a sale under the law. I make money off membership fees, not the cannabis. I am not selling, I am facilitating transfer. The cannabis is sold for the price I pay to acquire it and get it on the shelf.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Elfand says the club received a \u201ccease and desist\u201d letter from New York\u2019s Cannabis Control Board in February. He says they replied to it with a letter explaining their legal position, and never heard back.\u00a0<\/p>\n A press release issued by the business at that time stated: \u201cEmpire Cannabis Clubs is a not-for-profit cannabis dispensary (NFPCD) that aims to serve the goals of its members while ensuring an inclusive marketplace built upon social and economic justice for this rapidly growing industry before billion-dollar corporations are allowed to dominate the market and corrupt the process.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And indeed, the official New York Courts website<\/a> states that under the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA<\/a>), signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March 2021, \u201cit is now legal for a person 21 years of age or older to give or transfer up to three ounces of cannabis and up to twenty-four grams of concentrated cannabis, to another person 21 years of age or older, as long as it is given without any payment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Elfand emphasizes that he is conforming to every industry standard. \u201cEveryone is scanned in; everyone is over 21. It\u2019s all above-board. All products are lab-tested.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Now the testing is mostly done out of state, he says, but adds that he hopes to open a laboratory in New York.\u00a0 Quantity per sale is limited to three ounces of flower or 24 grams of concentrate\u2014the permissible quantities for personal possession (outside the home) under MRTA.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elfand is one of four co-owners, including his sister and brother. He says Empire Cannabis Clubs has some 100 employees, the majority with criminal records. \u201cWe try to get people who have been victimized by the war on drugs,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n The business is paying sales tax (even though it denies making any \u201csales,\u201d as legally defined), and is among several listed on the\u00a0New York Dispensary Events<\/a>\u00a0website.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOthers may be flying under the radar in New York City, but that\u2019s not me,\u201d Elfand insists. \u201cWe\u2019re paying taxes, we have a social equity program, and we\u2019re providing top-quality product safely and securely while making sure mom and pop can take some of that money back to the Bronx for their families.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Do businesses on the model of Empire Cannabis have a future as the licensed retail market is about to come online?<\/p>\n Officially, New York\u2019s legal cannabis program is being crafted to prioritize legacy operators.\u00a0 The first 150 will be\u00a0eligible<\/a>\u00a0to receive aid from a $200 million Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a tremendous stride in the right direction,\u201d Control Board chair Tremaine Wright, a former Assembly member from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, told the\u00a0Daily News<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re leading with equity in this state.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Office of Cannabis Management<\/a>, the Control Board\u2019s parent agency, is headed by a figure with\u00a0major activist creds<\/a>. Chris Alexander, a native of Hollis, Queens, is a veteran leader of the Start SMART NY<\/a> campaign that pushed for the MRTA\u2014and a lead drafter of the law. He told the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>\u00a0that he\u2019s committed to \u201cpulling the legacy market into the legal market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n On Aug. 5, the Control Board issued the first 15 licenses for cannabis processors, and announced regulations for testing labs to apply for licenses. On that occasion, both Wright and Alexander\u00a0made statements<\/a> pledging inclusion for legacy operators.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cProcessors aren\u2019t just an important part of the cannabis supply chain, they are creators, who take a raw plant and transform it into tested, consistent, high-quality products that consumers can trust,\u201d Wright said. \u201cWhen we open New York\u2019s first stores, owned and operated by New Yorkers harmed by the misguided criminalization of cannabis, the shelves will be lined with infused edibles, topical creams and concentrated oils. None of those products would be possible without these first processors launching New York\u2019s cannabis industry.\u201d<\/p>\n Alexander adds: \u201cThese processors aren\u2019t just expanding their own businesses; they are committed to also mentoring the next generation of cannabis processors. They\u2019ll be teaching vital manufacturing skills to those with a passion for cannabis\u2026New York\u2019s entire cannabis ecosystem will create opportunities for those who have been shut out of jobs and industry, and will bring those skills to communities across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0A Unified Legacy Operators Council (UNLOC<\/a>) has been founded by a group of 25 entrepreneurs to advocate for this sector. Among the members are veteran rappers Umi and M-1 (formerly of\u00a0Dead Prez<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Umi recently told the\u00a0Albany Times-Union<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019m not hearing enough about the culture that\u2019s behind the actual plant.\u201d Added M-1: \u201cThere\u2019s no way that the same capitalist exploitation that has happened in America can be good for cannabis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And indeed the notorious multi-state operators (MSOs) are making no effort to hide their ambitions for the Empire State.\u00a0\u00a0Their representatives were certainly out in force for the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition (CWCBE<\/a>) held at Manhattan\u2019s Jacob Javits Center the first week of June\u2014featuring an \u201cIndustry Yacht Party\u201d on the Hudson River.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n New York City Mayor Eric Adams (a former NYPD cop) addressed the CWCBE, famously\u00a0quipping to the crowd<\/a>: \u201cI\u2019m a bit disappointed. I thought I\u2019d walk in the room and have a nice scent of weed goin\u2019 on in here.\u201d (This despite the fact that the Javits Center does not allow smoking of anything.)\u00a0 <\/p>\n A more telling comment was offered by Gretchen Gailey, chief strategy officer for the CWCBE. She\u00a0told the assemblage<\/a>: \u201cWe say brands are born in California but made in New York. The real money is going to happen in this part of the country. This is where the population of the US is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n MSO\u00a0CuraLeaf<\/a>\u00a0has four medical marijuana retail locations in New York state, including one in the Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. It\u2019s already applying to begin recreational sales at its location in New Jersey\u2019s Bordentown, and is expected to follow suit in New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 10 \u201cregistered organizations\u201d that are licensed to distribute medical marijuana in New York are \u201cscrambling\u201d to position themselves for the adult-use market, in the words of the\u00a0New York Times<\/a>. The paper notes that some of these \u201cROs\u201d donated to Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s campaign, and nearly all have hired lobbyists, spending more than $2 million this year in expectation of a big share of a projected $6 billion market.\u00a0<\/p>\n CuraLeaf got into a\u00a0spot of bother<\/a>\u00a0with regulatory authorities in August, when it was forced to pull thousands of products from the shelves of its New York dispensaries for misleading labeling. CuraLeaf apparently began calculating THC content by \u201cdry weight\u201d rather than \u201cwet weight\u201d (the state norm) in order to jack up percentages. The Office of Cannabis Management said it couldn\u2019t do that without prior official approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking to the environmental contradictions of Big Bud, MSO\u00a0Vireo Health<\/a>\u00a0apparently needs more electricity for its new cultivation and processing facility than can be provided by the technology park where it has set up shop. The\u00a0Leader-Herald<\/a>\u00a0in upstate Gloversville reported that Fulton County industrial development officials were \u201cshocked\u201d to learn from Vireo that the county-financed transmission line into Tryon Technology Park<\/a> wasn\u2019t sufficient for the MSO\u2019s planned operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n And some perceive there are still obstacles for the little guy. The $2,000 non-refundable application fee for adult-use retail outlets is far below the $10,000 fee for medical marijuana dispensaries. But applicants must submit tax documents showing they\u2019ve owned and operated a profitable business for at least two years. And\u00a0Bloomberg Tax<\/a>\u00a0recently noted: \u201cThose fortunate enough to obtain one of New York\u2019s recreational cannabis licenses will be forced to contend with a gauntlet of state and local taxes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Since June 1, the Cannabis Control Board has issued some 160 cultivation licenses for the adult-use market, with many hemp farmers getting in on the act.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In April, the state legislature\u00a0passed a bill<\/a>\u00a0allowing already-operating hemp farms to get early adult-use cultivation licenses, to supply retail businesses as soon as they open. But the MSOs are certain to be next in line.\u00a0<\/p>\n In New York City, there has been much media hyperventilation about the proliferation of unlicensed retail establishments\u2014often derided as \u201cline jumpers.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Typical is a recent story in the\u00a0New York Post<\/a>, \u201cNew Yorkers Worry Over Flowering Weed Market.\u201d It sensationalizes about a \u201cGreen Mile\u201d that has emerged within \u201cHell Square\u201d\u2014the name for a section of the Lower East Side filled with noisy bars and eateries that irk the locals. The article mentions both Empire Cannabis and Granny Za\u2019s<\/a> on Rivington St., where patrons are \u201cgifted\u201d a quarter-ounce of cannabis if they pay $75 for a piece of digital artwork. The Post calls this using \u201cclever loopholes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Such coverage has contributed to calls for a crackdown by the New York Police Department. On July 8, the unlicensed open-air cannabis market<\/a> that\u2019s been operating in Washington Square Park, the heart of Greenwich Village, won some bad press. A Parks Department worker tried to confiscate one of the tables that had been set up\u2014and got into a physical scuffle with the merchants. Two were arrested and\u00a0charged with assault<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are growing calls from well-heeled area residents to shut down the Washington Square market, and the NYPD earlier this year announced a \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy for unlicensed cannabis sales in the park. But in fact, the open-air market persists as summer fades into fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first significant move toward a crackdown, on Aug. 16 the NYPD\u00a0seized<\/a>\u00a020 of the trucks that rove the city to make sidewalk cannabis sales. The Department\u2019s Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey proudly\u00a0tweeted<\/a>: \u201cIf you are looking to buy illegal cannabis from the Weed World Bus located on 5th Avenue & 40th Street, it is no longer open for business. We do not anticipate it opening for business anytime soon!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Technically, however, the seizures were made because of parking violations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n And in May, Liz Kreuger, the same Manhattan state senator who shepherded through the MRTA,\u00a0won approval<\/a>\u00a0in the Senate for S.9452\u2014a bill that would change the language of the MRTA to expressly prohibit unlicensed monetary transfers of cannabis. It\u00a0failed to pass<\/a>\u00a0the Assembly before the legislative session ended in June.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jonathan Elfand believes his Empire Cannabis Clubs set the standard for responsible practice in the unlicensed sector. He has this to say to the sector\u2019s critics: \u201cTell all the people in line for licenses that I\u2019ve been in this all my life, and I don\u2019t want to see it taken over by corporate money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The post New York: The Taming of the \u2018Wild East\u2019?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The storefront on Allen Street, on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, proudly sports a cannabis leaf logo on its awning. Beyond the security workers who check ID at the door, buds, edibles and pre-rolled joints are on open display in glass cases. There isn\u2019t the slightest hint of stealth or disguise.\u00a0\u00a0Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":57148,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,13760,16489,5833,16227,141,16490,16491,6854,13792,208,16492,81,4166],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57147"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57149,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57147\/revisions\/57149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cWe want to make sure cannabis goes to the community, the way it\u2019s supposed to. I refuse to get into the system,\u201d he expounds. \u201cAfter 215 in California, millions of dollars came in from people with no history in cannabis. Corporate cannabis is not taking over New York City, that\u2019s not happening. We don\u2019t want it to be just CuraLeaf and MedMen.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/elfand_empire-923x1024-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Legacy Operators Favored<\/strong><\/h4>\n
On July 14, the Cannabis Control Board issued long-awaited regulations allowing entrepreneurs to apply for licenses for retail establishments. The first round of Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD<\/a>) licenses will go to \u201cjustice-involved individuals\u201d\u2014that is, those with past cannabis convictions.\u00a0<\/p>\nBut Big Bud Is Circling In\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/NYMayorEricAdams.jpg\")
<\/a>Crackdown on Independent Operators\u2026Sort of<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"NYC](\"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/GrannyZas.jpg\")
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\nRead More: New York: The Taming of the \u2018Wild East\u2019?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"