Search Results for "connecticut"

Connecticut Billboard Advertising Legal Cannabis In Massachusetts Draws Protests

2/12/2019

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Weedmaps has put up another billboard in a state where cannabis remains prohibited, this time in Connecticut, according to a story by NBC Connecticut.

The billboard, located on the side of Interstate 91 in North Haven, Connecticut, reads: “Weed is legal in 60 miles.” Technically, the billboard is not violating any laws because it is advertising the Weedmaps app. Weedmaps conducted a similar campaign in Arizona, informing people about the availability of cannabis in Colorado and Washington.

Some Connecticut residents, however, are angry about the billboard. Connecticut has a medical cannabis program but not an adult-use program; it is still a crime to bring cannabis across the border from Massachusetts — or any state, for that matter. The billboard attracted enough attention that dissidents came out for a rally in front of the media company that owns the billboard.

Another billboard was placed four exits further down the highway towards Massachusetts that reads, “Treatment is closer.” It was placed there by an addiction treatment center in New Haven called Turnbridge.

The billboard is still posted along Interstate 91 and doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere for the time being.

Some Connecticut lawmakers are working to bring cannabis regulations to their state but opposition in the capital remains. Voters in the state strongly approve of overhauling cannabis laws, but Connecticut is not a state with rules allowing voter ballot initiatives so any significant change will have to come from elected officials.

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Hartford, CT

Connecticut Lawmakers Introduce Legalization Bill

1/21/2019

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Lawmakers in Connecticut have introduced the first cannabis legalization bill of the year, according to a Hartford Courant report.

The bill is co-sponsored by more than 40 state Democratic legislators. Connecticut has failed to pass all previous legalization attempts; with widespread legislative and gubernatorial support, however, this year seems likely to be a banner year for cannabis reforms in the state.

The bill would provide for legal sales to all people over 21. The existing medical cannabis program is regulated by the Department of Consumer Protection; the proposed legal marketplace would also be overseen by that department. Companies already holding medical cannabis licenses would be given priority for the new adult-use cannabis licenses.

The bill also contains provisions for the expungement of prior cannabis convictions. The bill would also allow home delivery and the home-growing of up to six cannabis plants.

Intoxicated driving laws would be amended with a provision making it illegal for anyone with more than 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood to operate a vehicle; public consumption would also be illegal.

While there is strong Democratic control of the Connecticut state Assembly and a governor with a favorable stance, the bill’s passage is not yet guaranteed.

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Hartford, Connecticut

Federal Judge Rules In Favor of Connecticut MMJ Patient

10/04/2018

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Another judge has ruled in favor of medical cannabis for employees despite drug-free workplace laws, this time in a federal case in Connecticut, according to a Time report.

Healthcare worker Katelin Noffsinger disclosed to her potential employer Bride Brook Health & Rehabilitation Center that she used medical cannabis for PTSD related to a car accident. However, when her drug test returned positive for THC, the nursing home rescinded her job offer, citing the federal prohibition of cannabis.

Noffsinger then sued Bride Brook for workplace discrimination. Medical cannabis patients are explicitly protected against job discrimination under Connecticut‘s medical cannabis laws.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Meyer ruled in favor of Noffsinger, though he denied her request for punitive damages. It was the first decision in favor of a medical cannabis patient in a federal court, though many state-level judges have ruled in favor of cannabis patients in the past.

More importantly, Judge Meyer said in his ruling that the federal Drug Free Workplace Act, which many employers cite when requiring drug testing, does not actually require drug testing and does not prohibit federal contractors from employing users of medical cannabis if it is used in accordance with state law.

“This is a very significant case that throws the issue in doubt for many of these federal contractors. It’s certainly interesting and may be indicative of where the courts are going with this.” — Fiona Ong, employment attorney for Shawe Rosenthal, via Time

This decision may be foundational for future medical cannabis litigation and lawyers involved in the case expect it to be cited in future decisions. Noffsinger and Bride Brook are now headed for further litigation to determine if Noffsinger is owed missed wages from not receiving the job.

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Medical

Connecticut Adds New Qualifying Conditions to MMJ Program

8/30/2018

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On Tuesday, Connecticut’s Regulations Review Committee added eight new conditions to the list of qualifying conditions for the state’s medical cannabis program, according to a Connecticut Mirror report. All eight conditions are valid diagnoses for adults and two of the conditions are approved for child patients as well.

Adult-only qualifying conditions:

  • Muscle Spasticity or neuropathic pain with fibromyalgia
  • Severe rheumatoid arthritis
  • Post-herpetic neuralgia, which is a complication of shingles
  • Hydrocephalus (a buildup of fluid in the brain) with intractable headache
  • Intractable headache syndromes
  • Neuropathic facial pain

For adults and those under 18:

  • Muscular dystrophy
  • Osteogenesis imperfecta, also called brittle bone disease

With the added conditions, Connecticut’s medical cannabis program now has a total of 30 conditions approved for adults and eight for those under 18.

“Now that these regulations have been accepted, more patients with severe medical conditions will have access to medical marijuana as a treatment option. … I continue to be proud of the careful way that our program has expanded, and its commitment to a true medical model.” –Michelle H. Seagull, CT Consumer Protection Commissioner, via CT Mirror

The conditions, approved by the legislature, now await posting by the Secretary of State’s office. They’re expected to be finalized within a week.

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Connecticut Physicians Reject Opiate Withdrawal As MMJ Qualifying Condition

6/26/2018

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On Monday, Connecticut’s state medical marijuana board voted against a proposal to add opioid use disorder and opiate withdrawal as qualifying conditions for medical cannabis, the Hartford Courant reports. The proposal would have been one of the first in the country to clearly identify medical marijuana as a treatment for opioid addiction.

The nine-member board, consisting of the commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection and eight medical doctors, claimed they could not separate cannabis’ effects on withdrawal symptoms from its pain-relieving effects. Without discussing treatment of chronic pain with cannabis instead of opioids, the board decided not to approve the proposal. Several board members claimed the research had not been done.

“In terms of curtailing cravings, we just don’t have the evidence. It’s just too open; it’s just too unknown.” — Jonathan Kost, Director of the Pain Treatment Center at Hartford Hospital, via the Courant.

The Connecticut State Medical Society was also against the proposal. The Society said trying to beat an opiate addiction with cannabis instead of buprenorphine, a drug that satisfies opiate cravings without producing a high, could be disastrous.

Advocates in the state expect to place chronic pain on the list of qualifying conditions in the future, hopefully then allowing opiate addicts a chance at switching to cannabis.

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Connecticut House Committee Advances Rec. Cannabis Bill

4/06/2018

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The Connecticut House Appropriations Committee has narrowly advanced a recreational cannabis bill, moving it to the floor which could consider the measure before the end of this year’s legislative session. The measure passed the committee 27-24.

The measure would require the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, in consultation with the Chief State’s Attorney and the Commissioners of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Consumer Protection and Revenue Services, to develop a plan to legalize and regulate the retail sale of cannabis in the state.

The bill would require the agencies to submit the legalization plan, along with a substance abuse treatment, prevention, and education plan to the General Assembly by Oct. 1.

Becky Dansky, legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project, said the voter “reiterates what most Connecticut resident already know: it is time to make marijuana legal for adults.”

“The discussions that have taken place in the legislature this year have provided more than enough information to effectively move forward with legalization. Connecticut should stop punishing adults for using a substance that is safer than alcohol, and it has an opportunity to regulate marijuana before it starts losing tax revenue to other states in the region that have already started this process.” – Dansky in a press release

Are the dominoes falling in New England? Maine and Massachusetts voters approved recreational regimes in 2016, and the Vermont Legislature passed its own legalization measure earlier this year. The Rhode Island House approved the first reading of its own legalization measure last month but have not held additional readings. Late last month New Hampshire lawmakers punted the legalization bill for interim study, which effectively killed the bill for further consideration this year.

An October 2017 Sacred Heart University poll found 71 percent support for legalization in Connecticut.

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Connecticut Seeking Applications for 3 MMJ Dispensaries

1/04/2018

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Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection is seeking applications for at least three new medical cannabis dispensaries by Apr. 9. Applicants are required to submit business plan information including organization structure, security plans, and compassionate care plans.

“Our state’s Medical Marijuana Program is incredibly successful, and is growing rapidly. When there is a substantial increase in the number of patients, DCP can issue new [Request For Applications] in order to best meet the demand for medication, and continue our commitment to quality health care.” – Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull in a press release

The state program allows adults 18-and-older with 22 medical conditions to access medical cannabis products, while individuals younger than 18 must have one of just six conditions to qualify for a medical cannabis program ID.

According to the DCP, there are currently just nine dispensaries and four licensed producers throughout the state for 22,348 registered patients. The agency reports that there are 807 physicians and advanced practice registered nurses registered to recommend cannabis to patients.

Dispensary applicants must pay a $1,000 non-refundable initial application fee, a $5,000 non-refundable registration fee, and a $5,000 non-refundable annual renewal fee. Currently, the nine dispensaries are located in Hartford, Milford, Branford, Waterbury, Bethel, South Windsor, New Haven, Uncasville, and Bristol.

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Photograph of buildings in Hartford, Connecticut from across a wide river.

Hartford, Connecticut City Council Passes Pro-Legalization Resolution

12/12/2017

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The Hartford, Connecticut City Council has unanimously backed a resolution in favor of a taxed and regulated recreational cannabis market in the state, specifically urging state lawmakers to support the passage of such legislation.

The resolution includes a directive for the city to conduct an economic impact study on legalization and language supporting racial equity provisions in the industry, which provides for priority licensing and employment opportunities for citizens most impacted by the War of Drugs.  

“By passing this resolution, we put ourselves in a position to ensure the implementation of marijuana regulation is grounded in racial and economic justice.” – Hartford City Councilwoman Wildaliz Bermudez, sponsor of the resolution, in a press release.

In October, a Sacred Heart University Institute for Public Policy poll found 71 percent of Connecticut residents supported legalizing and taxing cannabis for adult use, including 83.2 percent of residents under 35-years-old and 73.6 percent of residents with children.

During debates by the General Assembly Public Health Committee last Spring, Republican state Rep. Melissa Ziobron estimated that the state could see between $30 million and $100 million annually from taxes derived from the legal cannabis industry. Democratic lawmakers included funds from a theoretical recreational cannabis program in their budget recommendation, which the state’s Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated would contribute $64 million to state coffers in its first year.

Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy has called cannabis industry dollars “blood money” and would likely veto any legalization measure.

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A collection of medical cannabis clones inside of a commercial grow facility.

Connecticut Court Allows MMJ Patient Lawsuit Against Prospective Employer to Continue

8/31/2017

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A U.S. District Court judge in Connecticut has rejected a request to dismiss a lawsuit against an employer who rescinded a job offer after the applicant, a registered medical cannabis patient in the state who suffers from post-traumatic stress-disorder, tested positive for cannabis on a drug screening.

The employer Niantic Operating Company, doing business as Bride Brook Nursing & Rehabilitation Center, argued they had the right to withdraw the offer because federal law supersedes state law, therefore, the plaintiff, Katelin Noffsinger, had no grounds to sue the company for revoking the offer she had already accepted.

Bride Brook had claimed that they were protected from legal action under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA), and argued that the anti-discrimination employment provision under the state’s the Palliative Use of Marijuana Act (PUMA) violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

In his decision, Judge Jeffery Alker Meyer ruled that neither the CSA nor FDCA have jurisdiction over employment law; and the CSA “does not make it illegal to employ a marijuana user.”

“Like the CSA, however, the FDCA does not purport to regulate employment, and my focus here is limited to the validity of PUMA’s anti-discrimination-in-employment provision,” Meyer wrote. “Because [the provision] neither conflicts with nor poses an obstacle to the goals of the FDCA, I conclude that the FDCA does not preempt [the provision].”

Meyer called Bride Brook’s claims that PUMA violates the ADA “counterintuitive” and “crafted in order to make clear that the ADA does not extend its protections to persons who use illicit drugs or alcohol.”

“First and most importantly, the ADA explicitly provides that an employer ‘may prohibit the illegal use of drugs and the use of alcohol at the workplace by all employees,’” he wrote, noting that Noffsinger testified that she uses one Marinol capsule once-a-day before bed. “But the facts of this case do not involve any use of marijuana by plaintiff at the workplace, and PUMA explicitly declines to authorize such workplace use.”

The ruling allows Noffsinger to proceed with a lawsuit against the company. She is seeking damages for emotional distress and attorney’s fees.

This is the third case this year that a medical cannabis patient has found protections under their respective state medical cannabis laws. In July, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that a registered patient terminated after failing a drug test for cannabis could sue the employer for handicap discrimination, and in earlier this month a New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings judge determined that the Taxi and Limousine Commission could not revoke a TLC license from a registered medical cannabis patient.

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The Connecticut Capitol Building during a pink-toned sunset.

Connecticut Dems Add Cannabis Revenue to Budget Proposal to Keep Issue Alive

5/17/2017

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Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut have included funds from a theoretical recreational cannabis program in their budget recommendation in an effort to spur conversation about legalization and how the industry could help balance the budget, according to a Hartford Courant report. The state’s nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis found that a legal model similar to Colorado would be worth about $64 million in state tax dollars its first full year, while a program more similar to Massachusetts would generate more than $30 million in year one.

The agency reported that the costs to implement a Massachusetts-like model would run the state $4.2 million, while a Colorado model would cost $9 million.

In March, the General Assembly Public Health Committee debated a legalization bill but did not vote on the measure by its deadline. The Judiciary Committee also failed to put the matter to a vote.

Cannabis does have some high-powered proponents in the General Assembly, including Rep. Melissa Ziobron, the ranking House Republican on the budget-writing committee, and Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, a Democrat. House Democrats would likely need some support from their Republican colleagues if the bill were to make it to a floor vote because they do not have enough votes in their 79-member caucus to pass the measure – which would need 76 votes in the 151-member chamber.

Gov. Dan Malloy also stands in the way – he has called cannabis industry dollars “blood money” and would probably veto any legalization measures. The Democrat proposal will not be included in any budget bills voted on by the General Assembly.

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The Connecticut Capitol Building in Hartford, Connecticut.

Connecticut Lawmakers Debate Legalizing Recreational Cannabis During Committee Meeting

3/08/2017

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Connecticut legislators debated legalizing cannabis for adult use in front of the General Assembly’s public health committee yesterday but found only disagreement, the Connecticut Post reports. As usual, opponents stuck to the usual prohibitionist talking points and pointed to recent comments from White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and Attorney General Jeff Sessions as justification to keep the status quo.

During her testimony, Republican state Rep. Melissa Ziobron, a sponsor of a recreational use measure, argued that “legal marijuana is safer than alcohol and tobacco.”

“Marijuana has never caused a fatal overdose in the 7,000 years of reported human use,” she said in the report.

Ziobron noted that the potential tax revenues – estimated between $30 million and $100 million annually – would help bridge the state’s budget gap and could boost tourism interest in the state.

“It’s not just about the revenue,” she said. “In Denver tourism is at all-time high, no pun intended. They found marijuana laws increased the decision to go on vacation in Colorado by more than 50 percent.”

She added that by not legalizing cannabis as Massachusetts and Maine roll out their voter-approved legal regimes Connecticut would lose tourism dollars.

“What’s going to happen when they start driving through Connecticut to Massachusetts and Rhode Island to enjoy something other states have legalized?” she asked.

The bills in the state legislature would regulate and tax legal cannabis sales while requiring product testing.

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A commercial indoor growing op in Washington state.

Connecticut to Begin Accepting MMJ Research Applications

9/27/2016

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Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection will begin accepting research application on Oct. 1 that would allow approved hospitals, growers, universities, and dispensaries to conduct medical cannabis research, the Hartford Courant reports. The research would supplement the limited federal research on the palliative effects of the plant.

The plan is included with recent reforms to the state’s limited medical marijuana program, which will also allow patients under 18 to access medical cannabis.

Jonathan Harris, commissioner of the department, said the program not only helps patients “suffering from serious diseases” but offers doctors alternative treatment options and creates “good jobs” in the state.

“With this new research program, Connecticut could become the focal point for medical cannabis research and add to the strong bio-tech base already here,” he said in the report.

Currently, just 259 people are employed in the state’s medical cannabis industry; the Department of Consumer Protection suggests that number “could increase significantly” under the new rules.

Matthew Katz, executive vice president and CEO for the Connecticut State Medical Society, said the new rules are “a step in the right direction” and “allow for an increased amount of research in the area of the effectiveness as well as the other aspects of medical marijuana … the side effects and more that really needs to be studied.”

According to Harris, the program would make Connecticut the first to have an “organized, focused research program.” The state reclassified cannabis as a Schedule Two drug in 2012.

Currently, there are 13,434 patients enrolled in the Connecticut medical marijuana program, with four licensed growers and eight dispensaries.

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Connecticut Dispensary Opens for Business in Milford

8/10/2016

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Connecticut’s eighth medical marijuana dispensary opened in Milford despite concerns from residents about its location in a residential area, WTNH News 8 reports. The Southern Connecticut Wellness and Healing LLC dispensary is the first of two that will operate in the city.

Milford Mayor Benjamin Blake opposed the dispensary site when it was announced, saying it “should be moved to a location that is not in the middle of a residential neighborhood.”

According to the Department of Consumer Protection, nine of the 17 applications to operate dispensaries in the state were for locations in Milford. A second clinic is slated to open in the fall.

The state’s two-year-old medical marijuana program is growing. More than 12,000 patients have registered, up from the 1,200 that initially signed up in 2014. The growing patient roster means more demand, which means more dispensaries will certainly be needed. According to the Department of Consumer Affairs website, there are now just eight dispensaries currently in business in Connecticut.

“So the program is progressing which is good because it’s providing another alternative for people suffering from a limited number but very serious conditions whether it’s cancer, AIDS, ALS, those are serious diseases,” Jonathan Harris, Commissioner of Consumer Protection, said in the report.

In addition to Milford, Connecticut has dispensaries in Waterbury, Hartford, Bristol, Uncasville, Branford and South Windsor.

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Connecticut Legislature Overwhelmingly Approves Industrial Hemp Bill

6/10/2015

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The Connecticut State Senate has approved a bill that would allow the launch of hemp pilot programs and research plots in the state. The Senate’s unanimous approval of the bill follows the House’s 142-2 approval of the same legislation.

The bill, HB 5780, would strike hemp from Connecticut’s list of controlled substances, and would allow farmers to begin experimenting with industrial hemp as per the rules laid out in the 2014 federal Farm Bill.

The proposal classifies hemp as cannabis that contains less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.

The bill will now be sent to Governor Dannel Malloy, who has several options: he can sign it into law, do nothing and allow the bill to become law automatically, or veto it, although this is unlikely given the overwhelming support in both chambers.

Currently, the majority of hemp used in the United States is imported from Canada and China, the crop’s major exporters.

Sources:

https://thejointblog.com/connecticut-bill-to-legalize-industrial-hemp-passes-senate-unanimously-heads-to-governor/

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/43878/connecticut-lawmakers-approve-hemp-legalization-bill/

Photo Credit: pixonomy

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MMJ Sales Launched This Week in Connecticut

9/23/2014

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This week marks the opening of Connecticut’s medical marijuana market, nearly two years following the passage of a medical marijuana initiative that made Connecticut the 17th state to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The first crop of medicine was grown by Theraplant, the state’s first licensed producer, and was shipped to the state’s six licensed dispensaries on Monday. The Healing Corner, a dispensary in Bristol, and Arrow Alternative Care in Hartford were able to open their doors the very same day, securing legal and safe access to medical cannabis for dozens of patients.

Patients who had registered with the state were already granted protection against prosecution for marijuana, but the opening of official dispensaries was a long-anticipated and much-needed development. Now, patients will face less stigma when buying their medicine, and the marijuana they have access to will be more consistent in quality and subject to a swath of testing as per state regulations.

“I don’t have to hide something that helps me,” said Daniel Gaita, a veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of several overseas tours of military duty. “It will enable me to treat my symptoms without feeling like a criminal.”

As of the market’s opening, medicine is available in 5, 10, 15, and 35 gram doses. There are also pre-rolled joints available, and a unique marijuana concentrate tab that can be smoked or used in certain vaporizers. Eventually, patients will also have access to oils, tinctures, and baked goods. Cannabis-infused beverages and candies, however, are not allowed under state law.

“Smokables are going to be available first, but remember these smokables can also be vaporized,” explained Angelo DeFazio, owner of Arrow Alternative Care. “We believe in vaporization. It’s a better route of administration for the patient. It gets more of a dose to the patient quicker.”

There are currently 2,326 patients registered with the state, but industry members are counting on that number growing significantly — in fact, some experts estimate Connecticut’s potential medical marijuana customer base to be between 35,000 and 70,000, or 1-2% of the state’s 3.5 million residents.

Connecticut patients can qualify for medical marijuana to treat the following conditions: PTSD, glaucoma, cancer, HIV or AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, certain spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, cachexia, wasting syndrome, and Crohn’s disease. Patients can be certified by doctors to receive no more than 70 grams, or 2.5 ounces, per month.

Source:

http://www.courant.com/business/hc-medical-marijuana-sales-begin-connecticut-20140922-story.html

Photo image: Dank Depot

 

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Jeremy Rivera: From the Legacy Market to a Licensed Dispensary in New York

4/08/2024

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The Ganjapreneur Podcast is back! In this episode, host TG Branfalt welcomes Jeremy Rivera, co-founder and CEO of Terp Bros, a dispensary in Astoria, Queens. Rivera, a beneficiary of New York’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) program, shares his journey from the legacy market and facing multiple cannabis convictions to launching his own licensed cannabis business. He goes into detail about the nuances of the CAURD program, the competitive landscape of New York’s cannabis market, and the distinctive approach Terp Bros has taken to distinguish itself amid a sea of dispensaries. He also provides first-hand insight into the entrepreneurial spirit driving New York’s developing legal cannabis industry and the ongoing efforts to rectify past injustices. Listen to the full episode below, or scroll down for the transcript!

Listen to the episode:

Read the transcript:

Editor’s note: this transcript was generated automatically and may contain typos.

Commercial (00:03):

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TG Branfalt (00:52):

Hey there, I’m your host, TG Branfalt, and this is the Ganjapreneur.com podcast where we try to bring you actionable information and normalized cannabis through the stories of entrepreneurs, activists, and industry stakeholders. Today I am delighted to be joined by Jeremy Rivera is the co-founder and CEO of Terp Bros in Astoria, Queens, New York. Rivera is a conditional adult use retail dispensary or CAURD license holder and Terp Bros’ mission is to serve as a locale for the unique and memorable learning and experiences. Hey Jeremy, how are you doing this morning, man?

Jeremy Rivera (01:27):

Not too bad, bud. What’s going on?

TG Branfalt (01:29):

Dude, I’m real excited. You’re my first guest back. I’m happy to be talking with somebody in New York. The last time that I did this podcast, New York had gone legal, but we didn’t have the rollout of the market yet, so we have a lot to talk about. Before we get into all of that though, man, tell me about yourself. Tell me about your background, just your history with cannabis and how you ended up in the CAURD program,

Jeremy Rivera (01:56):

The program. Alright. Well, I’m one of the owners of Tur Bros. Cannabis Dispensary and Astoria in New York. Obviously because of New York’s parameters to get a license, some justice involved. I spent a lot of my teenage years as a gang member, Crip Street gang. Between 19 and 30. I spent most of those years in and out of prison. I have three state bids and a juvenile bid that I did when I was 30 2018. I came home, I had made a decision that I didn’t really want to continue living the life of wasting away in and out of prison. So I got into construction. I tried to maximize the space there and I got into construction safety. I became an authorized ocean instructor, a New York City Department of Buildings compliance officer and a nationally certified construction health and safety technician, all of which I was denied for and I had to appeal.

(02:52):

I actually set precedent for people with convictions to be able to get these licenses. And I was doing that from about, well, 2018 when I got home, I started my own business also and I was doing that up until about 2021, 2022 when the CAURD program was released. And I didn’t really know much about the CAURD program only because I had no real intention of getting back into selling drugs. And some of my background with cannabis is just like everybody else who was on the streets. You had some homies out in California, Oklahoma, Oregon, they’d send you 10 packs, 15 packs, and you’d distribute them throughout New York and with whatever your circle was. So I was dibbling dabbling in cannabis and even in prison, one of the big smokers is weed. You got somebody to bring you up the bag, you’re smoking a joint in the yard, it becomes a thing. So that’s really my experience just to go back and tell you what my experience in cannabis is. But again, in 2022 when the CAURD program was coming out, my best friend actually came to my house and he’s like, yo homie, I was just watching the news. We’re going to get a weed dispensary. And I genuinely thought he was crazy, bro. I am like, there are no way that New York out of every state in the country is going to give convicted felons. People have been convicted of crimes, nonviolent drug crimes. I mean

TG Branfalt (04:17):

We have history of Rockefeller drug laws

Jeremy Rivera (04:19):

Of course with the early nineties into the mid and the two thousands with stop and frisk all the way into the two thousands. And as early as the Rockefeller in the nineties, there’s no way New York State was going to allow such a thing to happen. But as I dove a little more into it and started researching it, they had two main criteria. You had to be convicted of a cannabis conviction, a cannabis crime, and you had to have a small business positive for two years. And I have three state felonies in a juvenile conviction. Each one of my state prison bids had cannabis in the indictment. So I checked that box off the jump and like I said, when I came home, I made the conscious decision to change my life. So around 2019, 20, I started JA Building Consultants, which was a consulting firm that I worked with insurance companies and I audited job sites. So that checked that box off. Boom, we got with a good lawyer, we who from MRTA law and we just started rocking and rolling. I really liked developed abilities that I didn’t know I had even this to be able to talk on podcasts and really tell the story. So it was amazing. It was a really cool journey and really journeys just beginning.

TG Branfalt (05:35):

So the licensing process was marred by lawsuits. There was at least one that stopped it and then another one that stopped it that dealt with veterans. And I can tell you from experience I was in very shortly after legalization, I was in New York City and there were illegal dispensaries operating sort of everywhere. And I know that you had taken that route, you wouldn’t have gotten a license ultimately. So the patients really paid off for a lot of people. Can you tell me about your experience obtaining a license in the state? What was it like for you?

Jeremy Rivera (06:14):

So you said it right there. The state’s program was hiccuped from the beginning. We had the verite lawsuit, which held five regions in injunction. We had the FII lawsuit, which cos Marte and Kbu and myself were a part of. We filed as interveners on that case and we were one of the three dispensaries that set the precedent for what the Honorable Judge Bryant was opening dispensaries for. But you said it, man, between the illicit dispensaries, we could have gone that route. And you know what, there are some illicit dispensaries that have gone that route and are still getting open. So that’s always like, fuck not, it’s been a hairy rollout. The CAURD program itself, we’ve never codified CAURD. So the CAURD program isn’t in the MRTA, the Marijuana Revenue Tax Act. It’s not in the MRTA. So it’s its sole independent entity. So that’s why it’s so subjective to having these lawsuits brought against ’em. We started this out with a Wish and a Dream and when they started awarding licenses back in November of 2023, I believe it was, no, 2024, sorry, up. My apologies. 2022. We didn’t get approved until 2023. So I left my job, I left working and doing my businesses to pursue this full time and I was

TG Branfalt (07:42):

Did you have to rent a building in the meantime? Just waiting for it?

Jeremy Rivera (07:45):

So no, because originally the parameters were different. Originally we had to take the DASNY program, the Dormitory Authority Services of New York. It was supposed to be a turnkey operation in the beginning. They were supposed to fit us out with a dispensary, find the location, we do the branding together because a lot of us in CAR didn’t have that experience in a mature market. We were individuals that were stepping into this. So the state had originally created a program through dasny where they were going to assist us find the location, work with fit out groups and all that. And as time progressed, everything changed. There were only supposed to be 150 licensees ended up now being 475 people or whatnot were licensed. We were originally supposed to work with the dormitory Authority services and now people like myself were able to get their own locations. So this program, and not to the fault of anyone’s specifically, it’s just been a very difficult and ever-changing landscape.

TG Branfalt (08:50):

Now obviously when people in the industry in New York, when we talk about this, I hear a lot that they don’t like those provisions that are in the CAURD provisions and that they say is what handicapped the rollout essentially, and what, what’s your take on those provisions? It doesn’t seem like in New York City with the dormitory authority, it really worked out that way. And it doesn’t seem like now that there’s four times as many licenses as they’ve anticipated, it didn’t really work out that way. So what do you think about the provisions and how it has rolled out?

Jeremy Rivera (09:32):

I think there should have been more protection for the CAURD program. I think it should have been codified by our elected officials a lot earlier on and now still codified to give protection to these individuals. New York has continued the rollout though they’ve continually, they’ve continued to accept applications and give out licenses. So the program is not stopping. The cannabis adult use program is not stopping, but card seems like to be forgotten about and continuously being forgotten about. And again, it’s no ill intent to anyone specifically. I think it’s just the way the cards rolled out. We have to give credit to New York and the officials that were behind the original MRTA for creating a program that focused on people who were disproportionately affected by the war on drugs. But the truth of the matter is, and

TG Branfalt (10:23):

New York City, I mean, yeah,

Jeremy Rivera (10:26):

I come from CDIA community disproportionately impacted by cannabis. I have multiple cannabis convictions. I, again, as a former gang member and a person who was in and out of prison and was in the streets, we’ve all been affected. Cannabis was that one reason to get you pulled out of a car and searched in hopes that they would be able to find something else. So we have to appreciate the individuals that focused on this and wanted to give us a chance. But the reality is, as we all know in other states, the big corporations really don’t give two fucks. Excuse my language, about individuals like us. And they have the finance and resources to keep on either pausing programs or filing lawsuits that pause programs to honestly, it’s like to break morale in individuals. And a lot of people who were in CAURD were hoping to get a build out. They didn’t have the finances or the resources to open up their own dispensary. So a lot of people who initially applied were only applying in hopes that they would be able to get that chance. So it’s a little difficult. It’s a rough program. It’s had its rough up and downs.

TG Branfalt (11:34):

Lemme ask you another question just do you know if, I know that Holle shortly after she took off, pardoned a whole lot of cannabis convictions. Are you a person that’s included in that sort

Jeremy Rivera (11:47):

Of social justice? No, I wasn’t. No, I’m not familiar with the pardons that she did do. But I’m a three-time pre persistent drug offender, so I can only get what’s called a certificate of relief. I’ve actually been home last year. This year I actually make six years that I’m home from prison. Longest year, five years was the longest I ever been home in my life.

TG Branfalt (12:12):

Unbelievable story, man.

Jeremy Rivera (12:14):

Yeah. So this year I’m actually able to put in for what they call a certificate of relief. And it doesn’t sponge my record because I have so much on top of it, but it puts a little asterisk next to it and it just let’s the officials know if everybody looks at my record that I’m kind of reformed or I am reformed.

TG Branfalt (12:36):

So going back to the community that your shops in, I’m a guy who likes buildings. Can you tell me about the building itself that you’re in? Maybe what it used to be? What?

Jeremy Rivera (12:48):

So it’s a funny story. We’re in North Astoria, Queens Dip, Mars. So we’re across the street from a real famous Greek seafood restaurant. We’re also across the street from a real famous bakery called Martha’s.

TG Branfalt (13:02):

Good place for a dispensary.

Jeremy Rivera (13:04):

Yeah, exactly. Great place. So originally we were working with one of my partner’s friends, Danielle from Fresh Bases. She’s young like us in her thirties, was in the club scene early on. And then as she grew up and had her family, she developed into doing real estate and we hired her to find this locations and she gave us a list of 10. And out of that 10 we picked four or five we wanted to see, and this specific location wasn’t even on the list. We never picked it, check it out. So we go look at the other spots and we’re finishing. She’s like, Hey, I want to show you the place on 36 in Ditmars. You didn’t pick it, but I want to show it to you. So we go over and we look around and I’m like, yo, this is the spot. The problem is the landlord, older gentleman, he’s about 65.

(13:53):

His father had owned the building since the thirties and was a Greek woods craftman. So they had it as a cabinet place. They used to make handmade cabinets. No way. And this is the first time he was ever interested in renting it out to somebody that wasn’t in his family. So bro, when I tell you we had to jump through hoops and have to deal with this guy while we were building out, we were literally, we had to construction crews in here. He was standing here like a foreman. And he would stand here and be like, well, you know, have to change this and you have to change that. And he like, no way, yo. It was crazy to the point we were like, Nick, you got to go to Florida. You had a house in co. He like, yo Nick, you have to go down to Florida. But it, it’s a first floor storefront with apartments upstairs. And again, a story is very residential with small businesses. So all of the small businesses have residential attached to them. So my neighbors, they’re like, oh, we live downstairs from a dispensary. I’m like, it’s really cool. My neighbor next to us is a bar. The neighbor to the other side of us is a brick of an Italian pizzeria. So bro, it’s really cool. There’s not much architectural substance to the building, but there’s so much emotional substance to it. But I mean,

TG Branfalt (15:11):

I saw pictures of it. It’s got that dope awning on the front of it. You know what I’m saying? It’s got character.

Jeremy Rivera (15:16):

Yeah. When we did the design, it was actually my partner who came up with the whole design. We did two murals, one from a local Astoria artist and another from a, excuse me, another from a Colorado and Hawaii based artist. So even our construction, we did it small business from a guy in the neighborhood, our floors, we did small business. Everything in the dispensary, we outsourced to people in the community.

TG Branfalt (15:45):

It’s the way to do it, man. Really. It brings a dollar spent locally or earned locally two or spent locally. I don’t know how the phrase goes.

Jeremy Rivera (15:56):

I know it’s something

TG Branfalt (15:57):

Now. Something like that. Prior to licensing, I just mentioned earlier, New York was a hotspot for unlicensed dispensaries. Are they still proliferating? I mean, you had said earlier that they’re still out there and how are licensed operators competing?

Jeremy Rivera (16:18):

So we’ll start with the first part, right? Are they still proliferating and continuing to open up and that the truth is yes, just within maybe 500 feet of me, I have about five or six of them. So an average of about one for every a hundred feet. New York didn’t really, New York State didn’t create a program where there was a real ability to shut these stores down. Even the other day in the news we saw on the Upper West Side, an elected official had gone and shut a illegal dispensary down and decided the next day to do a press conference in front of the padlock dispensary. Illegal and much to her amazed when she got there, they were open again and operation they had clipped the lock, opened it up, and they were back in business. So if she’s supposed to show you what the temperament in New York City is, it’s like fuck you. We’re going to do what we want. How do we differentiate and how do we work is providing education and understanding of what legal cannabis brings health wise. I know we have to separate ourselves because we’re not medical distribute, we’re not medical dispensaries, but we always have to make sure that we’re understanding these illegal dispensaries are definitely being found. Lace, cannabis, there’s definitely fentanyl, cocaine, heroin being distributed sometimes out of these same places.

TG Branfalt (17:55):

Really?

Jeremy Rivera (17:56):

Yeah, no, it’s crazy. Just the other day there was a raid and they found traces of fentanyl in the cannabis. The NYPD released a statement. So what can we do is market as safe legal providers. We have to get into our communities and show them that we have reasonably priced product, good product, safe product that we can give them. It’s always just the education part of it. These illegal dispensaries aren’t going out and telling you what the fuck’s in the weed. They’re just selling it to you.

TG Branfalt (18:27):

I hadn’t heard that from New York City at all. So that’s super disconcerting. At the very least. Now, broader, aside from the illegal operators that you have to sort of compete with, New York City itself, I’m sure is going to be hyper competitive, just like it’s for any business that decides to open in the city. Do you take the same approach when trying to corner your part of that hyper competitive, sort of broader New York City market? Of

Jeremy Rivera (19:02):

Course, because eventually I don’t believe that the illegal dispensary is going to be here for much longer within the next couple of years. And as the program develops, I think the state will create a protocol in which they’re shutting them down. It’s just not happening fast enough. But when it does happen, there are going to be a lot more legal dispensaries and just like anything else is marketing right? And creating something that other dispensaries don’t have, which is your own personal vibe, your own personal feeling that you give the consumers when they walk in. We don’t have a bunch of screens. We have bud tenders that walk the floor. We talk to you, we introduce a lot of our returning customers know our bud tenders by name. We know our customers by first and last name. So it’s just

TG Branfalt (19:46):

Like you knew your boy back in the day. No,

Jeremy Rivera (19:47):

Exactly. We’re bringing back that feeling of cannabis. We don’t want to over commercialize it where it feels like you’re going to an Apple store, you’re going to some big corporate building. We want to normalize the fact of purchasing cannabis in your neighborhood from somebody you recognize and you feel like. So that’s going to continue to be our game plan as more dispensaries open up as being ter pros, giving back what people feel is the reason they come in and it’s comfortability and the coolness.

TG Branfalt (20:18):

Well, and on marketing too, New York has really strict marketing regulations. I have a small business, a record store, and I wanted to partner. It just so happens record store day is on four 20 and I wanted to partner with our local dispensary on something and he’s like, dude, I can’t do it. I can’t do that type of partnership advertising. So how are you doing marketing and advertising in a space where it’s not allowed?

Jeremy Rivera (20:45):

Well, it’s not that it’s not allowed. It’s very strict and there’s very strict guidelines on how to market, right? We have to make sure that 90% of our viewers are 21 and older. We can’t use certain colors or certain fonts. We can’t insinuate the use of cannabis, I believe we can’t use brands. We can’t have brands market with us because there’s no picking one over the other. You

TG Branfalt (21:11):

Can’t trademark your name.

Jeremy Rivera (21:13):

Well, you can trade. You see, again, there’s ways to do certain things. We’re in the process of trading marketing tur rows, not through cannabis, but as merchandising, because we sell hats, we sell shirts. There are ways to go about it. Even with marketing programmatic out of home search engine optimization, there’s ways to do it organically. And there are companies out there that are marketing that want to break into the cannabis space knowing that eventually this is either going to go to schedule three or BD schedule completely, and we’re going to be playing on the same field. So there are companies out there. It takes a lot of work and a lot of diligence to do your homework on what is legal and not legal, what’s in and not in the regulations, so that you can go to your marketing meetings and you can explain and or your marketing company can explain back to you if you don’t fully understand.

(22:02):

This is what it says, right? Regulations are like law. And when I was going in and out of prison fighting cases, you cite case law and if it isn’t exactly the way it is, that’s what causes mistrials and that’s what gets you. It’s exact regulations are exact. So you have to be able to use those regulations and get as far as you can without violating them. And there are ways to do it even with your record store. It’s not him marketing. It’s you marketing. There’s no regulations that says a record store can’t market for four 20. It’s a cannabis company that can’t. It’s the legal dispensary.

TG Branfalt (22:43):

It just seems ridiculous on its face. It’s

Jeremy Rivera (22:45):

Super ridiculous. And we hope eventually that it’s going to open up. But for now, if we want to stay in this competitive market, we have to learn how to play the words. We have to learn how to work it.

TG Branfalt (22:57):

How hands on are you day to day? Because you seem pretty like you’re just

Jeremy Rivera (23:03):

Like any other small business owner. I’m here, me and my partners are here. We have 14 shifts a week. One morning one night. We’re open seven days a week. And between myself and my other partners, we’re here every day. I’m here Monday through Friday from morning till evening. We are hands-on in all of our marketing meetings, all of our growth and expansion, all of our day-to-Day team meetings. But you have to be, if you want to be a successful small business, I can’t expect anyone else, especially only five months into an industry to care about this as much as I do, knowing how much I’ve already lost, this is more than just a business. This is reparations for so much pain that individuals like myself have been through having to be stopped and searched and ripped out a car, having to go to prison with cannabis on your indictment and living through these traumatic instances. This is reparations for cannabis users and we have to treat it in a respectful manner. This is a real business. This is a real industry. So bro, I’m here every day, no questions asked. I’m at the shop right now.

TG Branfalt (24:10):

I mean, when it goes to marketing too, I just want to ask about your name, because Turt bros, right? Terpenes are not something that’s often an experienced cannabis consumer might understand. So you have weed shop on a hundred feet down from you, and then you have this really unique name that I think speaks to the maturity of your business. So what’s in a name, man?

Jeremy Rivera (24:44):

So this was actually my partner who came up with the name. We originally opened the company under cush culture industry because again, we thought we needed, we thought it was going to be a das and we wanted to go with something like conservative. And as the program evolved, we had created an Instagram page where terp rows was the name. My partner came up with that name. And it’s funny you say that. A mature consumer may know what terpenes is and maybe not the immature consumer, but everybody understands once you explain to them what Terps are and what terpenes are, because it’s the first thing that every consumer does when they check weed, they look at it, they open it and they smell it. So it goes back to the educational purposes of what we’re trying to create here and opening up things that again, the natural consumer may not know but wants to because they do it on a regular habit basis. And then as again, time went on, we DBA TER rows and we are like, that’s who we are. This is the feel. And it’s cool that you picked up on it and I feel you. Not every consumer picks up on it and not every person does. I’m

TG Branfalt (25:50):

A TURP guy, man.

Jeremy Rivera (25:51):

I feel you. But once you explain it to them, they understand. And again, that adds on to the educational purpose that we’re trying to provide here. It’s like teaching somebody something new every day.

TG Branfalt (26:02):

Yeah, I’m sure you have people. Do you have people who come in and say, what the fuck is a Turkey?

Jeremy Rivera (26:08):

Yeah, absolutely. I had somebody tell me because I’m not really a sports fan, but I had somebody ask me if it’s like a college football team. It’s

TG Branfalt (26:17):

Maryland. Yeah, yeah,

Jeremy Rivera (26:18):

Maryland like the TURPs. I’m like,

TG Branfalt (26:20):

Bro, no, I’ll be watching ESPN. And they’ll be like, and the TURPs. And I’m like, the fuck the, what are we doing here? So what is the top selling category at your shop? Is it flour, concentrates, edibles, flour,

Jeremy Rivera (26:38):

Flour, hands down flour? We’re a flower shop. We have a great of eights from 25 all the way up to 60. We have something for everybody. We are a small shop, but we hold a lot of skews. And I know a lot of people who are going to watch this from the mature market is like you’re supposed to have two 50 and 300, but we have like 580 skews. We have a lot of flour. We have a lot of non-cannabis too. We have puffco, we have grab bongs, we have papers and shit. But we have, I’d say about right now, maybe 90 different SKUs of just flour. We’d like to give people an option that’s between eight quarters, half ounces, ounces. But we like to give every consumer a chance to purchase something that’s for them. I don’t think having limited quantities really helps people. I think people need a good choice. And especially if you have good bud tenders that are guiding them to find exactly what it is they’re looking for, you can definitely dial down a TER rows and find something for everybody.

TG Branfalt (27:44):

What do you look for in a bud tender?

Jeremy Rivera (27:47):

So we picked our bud tenders from the community, also from the cannabis New York City community. We want to have people that are, I want to say conures, but understand cannabis, understand terpenes, understand the difference between flowers, understand the cannabinoid systems and secondary cannabinoids, not just THC, so that they’re able to give the consumers a good piece for what they’re looking for, but also personable. We want a bud tender that has retail experience that knows how to sell, but can smile and has a good aura about them. One thing about all of our staff is we’re trying to create the next line of entrepreneurs in the business. So we want bud tenders that have goals. We want bud tenders that want to be owners of dispensaries or owners of cultivation or get into marketing or get into compliance or anything like that. We want to be building the next set of business owners in the industry. So it’s like a little bit of everything. Cannabis, you’re a good flow person. You got a good vibration, you smile. You know how to upsell. You know how to sell. You want to be something you have goals in your life. And if ter pros is the place for you, there’s so many people that come in and out of these doors that there’s a chance for you to fulfill your dreams by working in this store for your future.

TG Branfalt (29:12):

And do you look for people that may have maybe records themselves and

Jeremy Rivera (29:18):

All of our, yeah, I didn’t add that on, but all of our bud tenders either have a conviction or if not have a conviction, have been in a CDI community disproportionately impacted or come from a CD. I got butt tenders and fulfillment from Brownsville all the way to the South Bronx, some from Williamsburg. I got people from everywhere.

TG Branfalt (29:39):

Williamsburg is a little gentrified now.

Jeremy Rivera (29:41):

Yeah, now it’s gentrified.

TG Branfalt (29:43):

Yeah,

Jeremy Rivera (29:44):

They’re still like the south side. Still got some hood blocks to it.

TG Branfalt (29:49):

I want to go back to flower just for a second though. Why do you think flower’s still it? I mean, I was just talking about my buddy about this right before we caught on and I was like, man, I still get flour from my boy. But meter, dose, edibles, concentrates. I mean all that comes from the dispensary and I think that’s because of the age, right? I still got boys. But why do you think flour is still that number one selling?

Jeremy Rivera (30:21):

I think what it is is when you look at the evolution of the illegal dispensaries they put out of business, our boys who had the delivery routes they put out of business, those local dealers who you would call, I’ll be at yours in 45 minutes with two bags, they put that area out of business. But again, as cannabis evolved in New York, they started to see that these corner stores were not giving them product that was suitable for their health or suitable for consumption. So now people are driven to what they’re used to, which is a store type environment, but they’ll rather go legal and especially in a small community like this where it’s not a lot of tourist traffic, it’s not in Manhattan where a customer will come in once and you’ll never see them their whole life. They’re just buying a vape pen in, they’re walking through Manhattan and seeing sightseeing and smoking a vape. These people are buying a bag of weed. They’re going to their house packing a bowl of rolling a joint. They’re buying a pre-roll going next door to the bar and smoking a joint outside. So again, the illegal dispensaries put out business are homeboys who are having the routes. But now that these illegal dispensaries, the cloth is coming over and we’re really seeing what they’re doing. It’s driving the consumer back to legal dispensaries.

TG Branfalt (31:43):

I mean it’s super interesting just from a, now does it sort of deviate by age group for you? Are the younger kids sort of looking for one thing and then grandma’s looking for another thing?

Jeremy Rivera (31:54):

Absolutely. We have a common core demographic of 37 to 41 that’s male and female. We’re starting to see that 21 to 28 start to pick up now that new brands are coming to market and those more recognizable brands that have that marketing and that young feel about

TG Branfalt (32:15):

Them that are on

Jeremy Rivera (32:16):

TikTok one to 20. Yeah, it’s not even the TikTok, but they’re the ones that were like the seven tens and the cookies and all these brands are starting to come. They got boys is going to come to New York. They have brand recognition. The older demographic is looking, honestly, it’s like sleep products, right? They’re looking for edibles that put them to sleep. They’re looking for flour that puts him to sleep.

TG Branfalt (32:40):

Interesting. So

Jeremy Rivera (32:41):

The market is ever developing, and I think the whole demographics of who your consumer is today by three, four months is going to change because all these new brands are now dropping to the New York market.

TG Branfalt (32:54):

What surprised you most about the legal market are going legal yourself?

Jeremy Rivera (33:00):

How much bullshit comes along with it

TG Branfalt (33:03):

That surprises you? You’re talking bureaucracy in New York State bud,

Jeremy Rivera (33:07):

Bro. The taxes two 80 e, I believe it’s 4 71. All these tax codes, the marketing regulations, understanding the independent regulations just for New York state and then understanding cannabis is still federally illegal

TG Branfalt (33:24):

And the city’s got their own codes

Jeremy Rivera (33:26):

And then the city has its own code. That’s really what took me for the biggest loop. It’s that it’s so controlled that you part of what’s going to be the largest infrastructure in New York state. It’s going to bring some of the most money in every than any other infrastructure. But yet we’re so regulated, so heavily regulated and we can’t do anything, right? We would just with our accountant, and it’s like you start to add up the amount of taxes and you’re like 13 and seven plus eight, and then we filed as a C corp. But what most common dispensaries are you get taxed on your personal, you get taxed on your dividend, you get taxed on everything. So that was the most difficult process.

TG Branfalt (34:10):

Do you think that recently a proposed legislation that would get rid of the potency tax, do you think that that would help the dispensaries and the smaller operators?

Jeremy Rivera (34:24):

Well, it depends because if you get rid of the potency tax on one end, it still has to be placed on another end. They’re not just going to lose taxes. No,

TG Branfalt (34:33):

I think they were going to put a flat tax on wholesale.

Jeremy Rivera (34:36):

But what would be the flat tax you get from 13% to what, 23%? Because you want to be lower than any of the other legal East coast states are. I think the highest we are in maybe mass is 24, 20 6%. So what would hoku want to do? Give us a flat rate of 23. We’re at 13% now. We still have a 13% M RT tax that we give our consumer. Our customer gets a 13% tax. So you think, I think it’s not going to drive consumers to want to shop. It’s already hard enough paying 13% tax. Imagine giving a flat rate of 21, 23, 20, whatever it is. I think on the dispensaries end, it’s going to drive a lot of consumers into not wanting to buy legal.

TG Branfalt (35:21):

What do you think would be best to get some sort of normalcy going in this market just because of the illegal operations. There’s a lot of issues in New York’s market. Do you think there’s any sort of panacea or legislation or anything that would benefit

Jeremy Rivera (35:41):

On the largest descheduling right removal? So

TG Branfalt (35:45):

Federal reform.

Jeremy Rivera (35:46):

Federal reform, of course, right on interstate commerce, right? Interstate compact. Seeing if we can start shipping from state to state. California is in a rut. If New York is the next hot market and there’s already brands in California that are dying that have notoriety, why can’t we start shipping them from California to New York?

TG Branfalt (36:06):

I mean, Connecticut has no supply.

Jeremy Rivera (36:09):

Yeah. Oh yeah. And that of course, that interstate movement would help a lot of these East Coast states not only drive traffic, but also relieve the issues that the West Coast states are having. So there’s so much that we can do. It’s just, I guess not lining the pockets the way people want it to on the big end. So they’re not with it really.

TG Branfalt (36:30):

So what advice do you have for entrepreneurs looking to enter this space?

Jeremy Rivera (36:39):

Educate yourself on the history of legalization in cannabis and other states and in your state. The regulations and the market itself. Understand that the whole facade of you driving a Ferrari and you own a dispensary really isn’t true. If you talk to anybody who’s been in mature markets and understands how the cannabis industry truly is, knows you’re going to have to be like me working here every day. Me and my partners are here every day, blood, sweat, and tears. It’s not easy. It’s heavily regulated. Gets back into understanding the regulations of your specific state and city and educating yourself, like just learning your consumer learning, sales, learning business, learning retail, being a good people’s person. There is a lot that has to do with being successful in this industry. It’s not just one thing.

TG Branfalt (37:37):

And just to ask you, man, what drives you to sort of be in there five days a week of this industry, of what you do? What’s the passion?

Jeremy Rivera (37:52):

I told you I’m a three time predicate persistent drug offender, bro. I dropped out of high school in ninth grade. I have no formal education. I left construction safety to do this. I’m not going back to construction. So this is all I have. This is everything, all eggs in the basket. This is what we’re doing. I’m that type of intense person. I don’t have a college degree where if this fails, I can go back to an office or I’m going to go do something. I don’t play basketball, I don’t rap. I don’t play sports, I don’t play football. I don’t do none of that shit. This is all I have. And because of that, and because I have a family that I need to support, I have a wife and beautiful children, I have a dream and a goal. This is what it is. This is what my focus is. And again, goes back to your earlier question before this. You need to focus on that. You need to focus in cannabis if you want to be successful the way I am. Because if you’re not focused and you’re not giving this a hundred percent, you’re not going to get a hundred percent out of it. So you have to be like laser vision all day every day. I saturate myself in legal cannabis, I’m all in on this.

TG Branfalt (39:07):

Bleeding it man. He’s fucking bleeding it.

Jeremy Rivera (39:10):

That’s a fact.

TG Branfalt (39:11):

My man. I cannot wait to my next trip down to the city to come and visit you and meet you and buy some flour. Where can people find out more about you and turp Bros. On the old internet?

Jeremy Rivera (39:27):

So you can go to our website www.erpbrosnyc.com. So that’s terros nyc.com. You can also find us on Instagram, T-E-R-P-B-R os. Do Astoria, A-S-T-O-R-I-A. You got to type the whole thing out because we’re Shadow band. So if you type in just type, you got to literally type the whole thing. Because cannabis is so heavily regulated and marketing is so difficult that Meta doesn’t allow us to have cannabis brands on their platform. But we’re also located at 36 dash 10 Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, New York. So that’s Dip Mars Boulevard between 36th and 37th, and that’s where you find us at.

TG Branfalt (40:12):

Well man, I really appreciate you coming on the show. My return after a couple of years away, Jeremy Rivera is the co-founder and CEO of Turf Rose in Astoria, Queens. And this has been the entrepreneur.com podcast. You can find more episodes of the podcast and podcast section of entrepreneur.com wherever you get your podcasts. On the website, you’ll find the latest cannabis news and cannabis jobs updated daily along with transcripts of this podcast. You can also download the entrepreneur.com at in iTunes and Google Play. This episode was engineered by Wayward Media. I’ve been your host, TG brand.

 

End

Pew Research Center: Most Americans Live in County with at Least One Cannabis Dispensary

3/04/2024

by

The majority of Americans – 79% – now live in a county with at least one cannabis dispensary, according to an analysis from Pew Research Center, with 74% living in a state where cannabis is legal for medical or adult use. According to Pew, 54% live in a state where adult-use cannabis is legal.    

The Pew analysis found nearly 15,000 cannabis dispensaries in the U.S. with California hosting about a quarter – 3,659 in all. Los Angeles County hosts 1,481 dispensaries, more than any other state other than California.  

Pew counted 1,405 dispensaries in Oklahoma – the most per capita of any state with 36 dispensaries for every 100,000 residents. Oklahoma has not legalized cannabis for adult use, but its medical cannabis program is one of the country’s most permissive.     

Pew also found that in states that have legalized cannabis for adult use that border states that still prohibit cannabis use by adults, dispensaries often cluster on the border of the state that has not passed the reforms. There are 64 dispensaries in New Mexico within 20 miles of its border with Texas, according to Pew. Overall, one in every five dispensaries in the U.S. is located within 20 miles of a state border and 29% of the border dispensaries adjoin a neighboring state with less permissive cannabis laws.  

The Pew analysis also found that in four states that have legalized cannabis for both adult and medical purposes – Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia – median annual household incomes are at least $20,000 lower in areas with high dispensary concentrations than areas with low concentrations of dispensaries; while in New Hampshire and New York, by contrast, median household incomes are around $20,000 or more higher in areas with many dispensaries than in areas with few dispensaries. 

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Rhode Island Gov. Wants to Give Cannabis Industry 280E Tax Workaround

2/21/2024

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Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee (D) has proposed decoupling state and federal taxes for cannabis industry operators as a partial workaround for IRS code 280E, Marijuana Moment reports.

The cannabis industry pays an exorbitant amount of taxes as a result of 280E, which prohibits companies from taking normal business tax deductions if their work is tied to a federally prohibited substance (cannabis is still declared Schedule I under the federal Controlled Substances Act).

The governor included the tax relief language as part of his budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025, stating that “Rhode Island would join Massachusetts and Connecticut, and at least 10 other states, in decoupling from this federal policy,” and estimating that the move would save cannabis operators $824,642 in the fiscal year 2025 and $1.7 million in the fiscal year 2026.

The tax relief language is supported by Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) Chair Kim Ahern, who attended the House Finance Committee meeting last week addressing the governor’s budget proposal, the report said. Lawmakers have not yet voted on the budget proposal.

It’s possible the cannabis industry could soon find tax relief at the federal level if the Biden Administration were to either reschedule cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III — as was recommended last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — or remove cannabis from the federal drug schedule entirely, a move that was recently suggested by a group of Senate Democrats.

Rhode Island passed its cannabis legalization law in 2022 and the state’s licensed cannabis dispensaries earned more than $100 million in combined medical and adult-use sales during their first full year of adult-use operations.

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U.S. Census Bureau Releases Interactive Map Outlining States’ Quarterly Cannabis Tax Revenues

10/13/2023

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The U.S. Census Bureau has released an interactive map outlining the quarterly revenue states have garnered from cannabis excise taxes and what percent of their revenues the taxes represent. The agency’s data covers the second half of 2021, all of 2022, and the first half of this year. 

The data set for Q2 2023 is incomplete with several states where adult-use businesses are operational not included, such as Washington State, New Jersey, and Maryland. Other states, including Virginia and Minnesota have legalized cannabis for adult-use but sales have yet to commence. The data also includes states that impose excise taxes on medical cannabis sales.  

The available data shows that Q2 2023 cannabis tax revenues in five states represented more than 1% of the states’ total tax revenues, including Alaska (1.32%), Colorado (1.21%), Illinois (2.04%), Michigan (2.16%), and Oregon (3.19%). Among those states, only Alaska and Michigan had increases in cannabis tax revenues from the previous quarter, with 18.35% and 8.53% respectively. Colorado saw a 0.33% decrease, Illinois a 3.72% decrease, and Oregon a 7.95% decrease.  

Cannabis tax revenues for two states, Arizona (0.73%) and Missouri (0.92%), represented between 0.5% and 1% of revenue and both saw increases from Q1 figures at 9.73% and 89.4%, respectively.  

The cannabis tax revenues from the remaining states included in the dataset comprised less than 0.5% of the state’s revenues in Q2; those states include California (0.26%), Connecticut (0.05%), Maine (0.11%), Massachusetts (0.42%), Mississippi (0.02%), Montana (0.25%), Nevada (0.17%), New Mexico (0.06%), New York (0.37%), Oklahoma (0.09%), Pennsylvania (0.20%), Rhode Island (0.13%), Vermont (0.04%), and Washington, D.C. (0.01%).   

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More Than 20 AGs Send Letter to Congressional Leadership Urging Passage of SAFER Banking Act

9/29/2023

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A bipartisan group of more than 20 attorneys general on Tuesday sent a letter to Congressional leadership urging them to pass the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation (SAFER) Banking Act. The bill passed the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs on Wednesday. 

In the letter, the attorneys general note that current federal law, which classifies cannabis as a Schedule I drug, presents “a risk of criminal and civil liability to banks providing services to state-licensed cannabis dispensaries and related businesses” which significantly inhibits “the ability of financial institutions to provide services to regulated cannabis operators and leaves those businesses struggling to find financing.” 

“The lack of access to banking services creates both barriers to entry into the industry and instability for existing businesses. Recently, Mastercard announced that it will no longer allow its cardholders to use their bank cards to purchase cannabis, cutting off a key revenue stream and making it harder for customers and businesses alike,” the letter states. “Further, where the public perceives that regulated businesses can only conduct business in cash, employees and customers are at greater risk of violent crime in pursuit of that cash. Several jurisdictions have seen a spike in robberies of cannabis businesses, some of which have resulted in deaths.” 

The signatories add that passage of the law “will enable the evolution of a banking system for legalized cannabis-related businesses that is both responsive and effective in meeting the demands of our economy.” 

The letter is signed by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, and Washington, D.C.  

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Cannabis Sales in Massachusetts Total $5B Since Adult-Use Launch

9/12/2023

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Adult-use cannabis sales in Massachusetts reached $5 billion on August 31 after record-breaking monthly sales in June, July, and August, according to the state Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). Sales surpassed the $4 billion mark just eight months prior to hitting $5 billion, which the CCC said makes the period the shortest it’s taken for Massachusetts businesses to generate another $1 billion dollars in gross sales.

Cannabis sales commenced in Massachusetts in 2018. So far this year, adult-use cannabis sales have totaled more than $1 billion. 

In a statement, Commission Executive Director Shawn Collins noted that the milestone comes even as Maine, Rhode Island, and Connecticut also experienced record sales over the summer.  

“Demand for tested, quality cannabis products remains strong in the region, and consumers shopping in other states have not impacted Massachusetts’ success.” — Collins in a press release 

The agency also noted that, to date, just five cannabis retailers in the state have surrendered or allowed their license to expire, while just 16 of all cannabis businesses have either let their license expire, surrendered their license, or had it revoked. The state currently has 317 cannabis retailers, nine delivery couriers, eight delivery operators, and one microbusiness with a delivery endorsement.  

The CCC notes that it is also currently undergoing a regulatory review to implement new social equity rules and regulations. The agency has until November 9 to issue the updated program regulations.    

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Rhode Island House Approves Cannabis Advertising Bill

5/10/2023

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The Rhode Island House on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill to allow state-approved cannabis companies to advertise on billboards, the Boston Globe reports. Under the state’s cannabis legalization law, Rhode Island businesses were not allowed to advertise on billboards; however, companies in neighboring states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut, were advertising on billboards in the state.  

State Rep. Scott A. Slater (D), who introduced the cannabis legalization and advertising bills, said the state’s dispensaries were at “a serious disadvantage” because they were not allowed to advertise on billboards while out-of-state companies were already doing so. 

“Now that Rhode Island’s recreational cannabis industry is up and running, our dispensaries are facing a significant obstacle when competing with our neighbors in Massachusetts and Connecticut. … This bill will correct this inequity while also supporting these new local businesses in Rhode Island by hopefully keeping Rhode Islanders from crossing the border to shop for their cannabis in neighboring states.” — Slater to the Globe 

The bill allows the state Office of Cannabis Regulation to provide cannabis companies with forms, policies, and requirements for advertising products in the state. 

The measure still requires approval from the state Senate and by the governor.   

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Yale School of Medicine Launches Cannabis & Cannabinoids Science Center

2/27/2023

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Yale School of Medicine last month announced the creation of the Center for the Science of Cannabis and Cannabinoids. The center will be led by Deepak Cyril D’Souza, MD, of the Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry and a leading expert on the pharmacology of cannabinoids. 

In an interview with Yale News, D’Souza said one of his goals as director is “to bring people together.”  

“An important aspect of a center is to bring people who might have complementary interests and skillsets together in a way that may not have been previously possible. I’d like to create a forum where on a regular basis people can come together to discuss ongoing projects and avenues for collaboration.” — D’Souza to Yale News 

Additionally, D’Souza said, he wants to ensure the center is “self-sustaining.” 

“You need resources to support a center and while the dean’s office and chair of psychiatry have generously contributed funding to start a pilot program, we’d like to submit a large grant application in two to three years,” he said. “That kind of grant would sustain the center over a greater period of time.” 

D’Souza indicated that the center’s “broad interest” right now is “the impact of cannabis on the developing brain and on mental health” but that as the center greenlights pilot projects, “the center’s goals may become more focused.”  

“But we’ll approach questions from different angles. For instance, there are observational studies we can do with humans and experimental studies that we cannot,” he said. “So that’s where complementary approaches come in, where animal studies or studies in brain organoids become relevant and complementary to human work.” 

He said the center would not take a pro- or anti-cannabis legalization stance and that researchers “just want to collect information on the science of cannabis and cannabinoids.”  

Yale is located in Connecticut, where adult-use sales launched last month. 

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Massachusetts’ Harpoon Brewery Launches its First THC Beverage

2/24/2023

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Harpoon Brewery has launched its first THC-based beverage, Rec. Weed, in partnership with Novel Beverage Company. The company describes Rec. Weed as “hop-forward yet approachable.” It contains no alcohol, 5 milligrams of THC, real passionfruit puree, green tea, and hops. 

Dan Kenary, CEO and co-founder of Harpoon, said it partnered with Novel on the product because of its “vast knowledge” of the cannabis industry and “strong New England roots.” Both companies are based in Massachusetts.

“The adult beverage space is constantly evolving. With THC now legalized in states across much of the country – especially here in the Northeast – we saw not only high demand for a THC-based beverage, but an opportunity to experiment in a way that would uniquely leverage our strengths in the beer world.” — Kenary in a press release 

Rec. Weed is the second cannabis-inspired product from Harpoon’s parent company, Mass. Bay Brewing Company, after previously launching Long Trail’s CBD Seltzer. The CBD Seltzer is available in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.  

Rec. Weed is currently only available at adult-use dispensaries in Massachusetts. Novel products are available at adult-use cannabis dispensaries in Maine and Massachusetts. Novel has also worked with Shipyard Brewing and Sea Dog Brewing on cannabis beverages.  

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