Even after legalization, it takes a while for marijuana in a given state to be sold in stores like any other age-restricted item -- while Colorado has over 1,000 retail and medical marijuana stores across the state, New York has not had a single official store despite legalizing medical cannabis in 2016 and recreational in the spring of 2021.
This is, in large part, due to time it takes to work out the licensing rules and other red tape around taking something that was very recently still illegal out into the open.
But as time passed, unlicensed shops started to proliferate as frustrations among those looking to get into the industry the right way started to mount -- by September, over 900 people applied for the 150 licenses that will initially be issued by the state.
New Yorkers Told To Mark Their Cannabis Calendars
On December 21, Governor Kathy Hochul said the words many had been waiting to hear -- the first marijuana dispensary in the state is slated to open before 2023 begins.
"Mark your calendars: legal, adult-use cannabis will be sold in New York for the first time next week!" Hochul wrote in a tweet providing details of the shop.
Run by HIV/AIDS nonprofit organization Housing Works, the first dispensary will open on December 29 in the Noho neighborhood of Manhattan. The address, 750 Broadway, is a historic building finished in 1883 and just a few blocks away from New York University and Union Square.
The dispensary will operate on the bottom floor of the building and sell both marijuana itself and various edibles and other THC-infused products to, naturally, those who are over 21 years old.
As New York lawmakers have repeatedly waxed poetic about how legalization will be equitable and not perpetuate past inequities around who was encouraged vs. criminalized, the proceeds from the first dispensary will go toward Housing Works' mission of helping people suffering from homelessness and HIV/AIDS
The Business Of Legal Recreational Marijuana
"We set a course just nine months ago to start New York's adult-use cannabis market off on the right foot by prioritizing equity, and now, we're fulfilling that goal," Hochul said in a press release.
As more states moved to legalize recreational marijuana use in 2020 and 2021, discussion around the business implications also reached a fever pitch.
Shares of major ETFs like AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO), ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) and AdvisorShares Pure U.S. Cannabis ETF (MSOS) are all down by more than 70% in 2022 due to everything from supply issues and the constant push and pull between states where it's illegal entirely and states where demand is starting to wane after an explosion of players entering the market
New York is still very early in the process, but legalization is usually followed by big players like Curaleaf (CURLF) and Trulieve (TCNNF). But while states that legalized recently are still learning the potential of what it can do for the economy, states like Colorado and Oregon (which legalized recreational use years ago) are currently dealing with an oversupply of producers and retailers.
However, the global cannabis market will, according to numbers from Allied Market Research, grow at a CAGR rate of 20.1% from $25.7 billion in 2021 to $148.9 billion by 2031.
