NY's first individually owned legal cannabis dispensary to open in the Village

It was an empty storefront, but on Tuesday morning, the store at 144 Bleecker St. in the Village will be New York's second legal marijuana dispensary in the state.

News 12 Staff

Jan 20, 2023, 11:08 PM

Updated 701 days ago

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New York state's first individually owned legal cannabis dispensary is just days away from opening in New York City.
It was an empty storefront, but on Tuesday morning, the store at 144 Bleecker St. in the Village will be New York's second legal marijuana dispensary in the state.
It's called Smacked. The man behind it, Roland Conner, was once prosecuted for marijuana. Now he is going to be make a profit off it.
Conner and his son, Darius, worked to get everything in order, even the products that will be offered were still to be determined as of Friday night.
The pop-up cannabis shop will open its doors to adults 21 and older Tuesday at 10 a.m. in a soft launch. Potential customers will be required to present an ID and pay with cash only for now. The store will be open for a few weeks through Feb. 20 or whenever inventory runs out to get adjusted to this budding market.
That's because this will be the first dispensary in the state that is owned and run by an individual entrepreneur supported by the state in an effort to promote social equity.
New York prioritized those who were hurt by past marijuana laws when it selected the 28 people who have received dispensary licenses so far.
The same soft launch process is expected for other individually owned dispensaries as they open across the state.
For Conner, it's full circle to be the first to open in New York and he thanked the Bronx Cannabis Hub for helping him launch the dispensary.
Conner and his son Darius are already considering implementing a delivery service in the near future and hope the store in the Village is just the first of many Smacked dispensaries to open in New York City.