ASTORIA, Queens (PIX11) — Legal marijuana dispensaries that were told they would soon be able to open now have to wait. It’s the latest chapter in a legal fight over the future of New York’s legal cannabis industry.
“I’m feeling hurt, I’m feeling discouraged, I’m feeling disappointed,” Jeremy Rivera told PIX11 News.
Rivera said he poured his life savings into opening the Terp Bros. Dispensary in Astoria after receiving a license from the state. Rivera has had to cancel his grand opening twice.
Rivera said if he isn’t able to open soon, he will be in financial trouble.
“I am going to go bankrupt. Literally, I do not have a way to pay the rent,” Rivera said.
The expansion of New York’s legal cannabis industry was first put on hold earlier this summer after a lawsuit filed by veterans who claimed they’d been left out of the licensing process.
In a hearing last Friday, Judge Kevin Bryant made an exception for some dispensaries to open, including Riveras.
“[On Monday] we received a phone call from the Office of Cannabis Management that the judge had came back with a decision to uphold the temporary restraining order and that we would not be opening,” Rivera said.
