RUN FOR THE BORDER
Massachusetts towns & shops cash in on N.Y. failure to make pot legal
— Marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts are seeing green as New Yorkers stream across the border to stock up on ganja after lawmakers in the Empire State failed to give legal weed a try.
Stores such as Theory Wellness in Great Barrington are seeing a deluge of cannabis-curious customers coming from neighboring states.
“People already use cannabis, the majority of them do so responsibly,” Brandon Pollock, the dispensary’s CEO told the Daily News. “We’re not creating a new market, we’re just regulating an existing one.”
The sleek legal weed dispensary, tucked beside a tire shop on the northern stretch of the small Berkshire town’s main drag, is only eight miles from the New York border and less than a three-hour drive from the city. Sales at the store have skyrocketed to upwards of $11 million since it launched it’s recreational operation in January, with half of the more than 50,000 customers coming from New York, Pollock said.
The shop opened in 2017 as a medical marijuana dispensary and still has about 1,000 regular medical customers.
But the plethora of New York license plates in the parking lot on Wednesday ahead of the holiday weekend was a clear indication of where the majority of the shop’s legal weed-seekers are coming from.
Nearly a hundred people stood in a line outside, many chatting and soaking up the July sun as they wiled away the hour-plus wait to purchase pot.
Michelle, a 54-year-old from upstate Columbia County, said it was her third trip to the dispensary in as many months.
“I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s no worse than alcohol and alcohol is everywhere,” she said. “When was the last time you saw two people get into a fight after they smoked. But you see that in a bar. People have too much to drink and they’re beating the crap out of each other.”
Andrew and Bryan drove an hour-and-a-half from New Paltz to check out the store for the first time. The pair, after expressing their displeasure with the long drive and their home state’s failure to pass
legal pot, said they planned to stock up, grab lunch and head home.
“I wanted to see how Massachusetts was doing the legalization of recreational weed,” 37-year-old Andrew said. “I guess that New York just isn’t ready yet. There was a lot of opposition from some communities in New York.”
Despite polls showing statewide popularity, lawmakers couldn’t agree on details of legalization, including how tax revenue would be spent and whether past pot convictions should be expunged. Instead, a bill further decriminalizing marijuana passed the Senate and Assembly.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana New York, made up of law enforcement officials, parent-teacher associations and doctors, led the charge against legalization efforts in the Empire State this legislative session.
“New York legislators learned that commercializing marijuana brings along a host of significant health, safety and societal costs that result in no tax money and no social justice,” Kevin Sabet, the group’s president said.
Customers at Theory Wellness disagreed, saying that New York passed on an opportunity that could have brought tax revenue and jobs to struggling parts of the city and state.
“It’s a no-brainer, the total package,” said Ed, a 68-yearold former security consultant, who waited on line Wednesday. “It’s pretty darn obvious that the revenue generated from the taxes would be sizable and it would improve communities. It would benefit the economy in New York State from communities impacted by the war on drugs to the rural areas upstate that could farm it.”
In Massachusetts, the state pockets 17% of the 20% sales tax on cannabis.
Demand has so far exceeded Pollock and the Theory team’s projections that they have more than tripled the staff at the Great Barrington location, where about 50 people are now employed.
“They’re all local residents of the Berkshires,” said Thomas Winstanley, the company’s director of marketing. “We’ve also had to increase our hours of operation.”
The company is doing its best to be a good neighbor and give a leg up to those who have been affected by overpolicing of past pot laws with a program that offers $250,000 and guidance to a disadvantaged person or team seeking to open their own cannabis retail shop.
The potential competition from another shop or another state doesn’t concern Pollock.
“We are young entrepreneurs,” he said. “We consider ourselves to be social entrepreneurs, so we’re doing this not just for money if you will.
“We believe in equity in the cannabis industry and we also believe in access to safe cannabis for all adults. So when a state like New York is so close to allowing access and fails it is certainly very disappointing in our view because that just further delays people having access.”