FLUSHING N.Y. (PIX11) – Have you ever dreamed of opening your own business?
How about the newly created legal cannabis dispensary business?
PIX11 News visited the first free official New York State legal cannabis dispensary showroom to come to the student union at Queens College. The goal is to help students and other local entrepreneurs figure out if this is a business for them. There are already 28 legal dispensaries in New York State including eight in New York City alone, but can you make money in this business?
“If you want to be an entrepreneur and start a retail business and go apply, this is a really big opportunity to generate wealth as a family and in the community,” Desmon Lewis, a member of the Bronx Community Foundation, said.
Between 500 and 1,000 new licenses will be awarded early next year.
Nonprofits are lining up to get on board.
“It’s really about spreading the knowledge so more people in marginalized communities can open dispensaries or work in one,” Kheperah Kearse, the chief wellness officer of LIFE Camp, told PIX11 News.
Jalen Jones, an account executive for Dutchie, took PIX11 on a tour of the display cases.
“You have bongs, pipes, rolling papers, grinders, but there are no live products here,” Jones said.
While there was no cannabis on-site in the showroom, there were display cases and seminars to help people through the $1,000 application process.
Albert LaRoche, 34, is eager to apply.
“It’s a lot of cash and a lot of investment,” LaRoche, a resident of Rego Park, Queens, said. “But hopefully a young Latino who has been arrested in the past for marijuana can potentially work in this industry that will produce beneficial results.”
The boot camp and job fair continue on Saturday at Queens College from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
