Cannabis legalization in New York | Former prisoners become entrepreneurs

(New York) Naiomy Guerrero often saw his brother being arrested by the police in the Bronx. Another New Yorker, Jeremy Rivera, no longer wants to go to prison for drug trafficking. Today, both want to open their legal cannabis business, a promising market but strewn with pitfalls.

This opportunity, “it’s a really strong moment for my family, especially knowing where we come from, what we went through because of the discriminatory policies of the city”, explains to AFP Naiomy, student in 31-year-old art story, whose parents are from the Dominican Republic and who already has professional experience in culture.

Along with her family, she is among the first 28 aspirants who received a license from New York State on November 21 to open an official store and sell local cannabis. A new stage, more than a year after the legalization of its consumption for adults, in this region of 20 million inhabitants, which extends north to Canada.

In New York, its flagship city, the smell of grass has become as characteristic as yellow taxis or skyscrapers for tourists and locals. The town hall is counting on 1.3 billion dollars in sales from 2023 and 19,000 to 24,000 job creations in three years.

“Leave it all”

Since being released from prison in 2018, Jeremy Rivera has vowed never to return. His fully tattooed arms, his business sense and his knowledge of cannabis, this 36-year-old father wants to put them to good use to open a store further east, on Long Island.

The entrepreneur, who grew up a crime in Queens, is “99,998%” hopeful of being part of the next licensing train.

In this way, his conviction, in 2016, “for a non-violent offense related to cannabis”, is not a handicap.

Having been convicted, yourself or a loved one, in New York State of a cannabis-related offense – including for sale – and having a business, are even two conditions to be eligible for one of the 150 first licenses, which will precede the full opening of the market.

Repair

A philosophy assumed by the Democratic state, to repair what it considers today to be the unjust and disproportionate impact of decades of cannabis prohibition on the African-American and Hispanic communities.

“Prohibition has deprived people of opportunity, it has impoverished communities, it has broken families,” said Tremaine Wright, chair of the board of control of the Office for Cannabis Management (OCM) of the city. New York State.

In 2018, a state report estimated that there had been 800,000 arrests for possession of the substance in 20 years, and those arrested in 2017 were mostly black (48%) or Hispanic (38%).

In the 2000s, “you couldn’t stay outside without getting picked up by the police […]it was a constant state of surveillance and harassment,” recalls Naiomy Guerrero.

Brittle

But while the program is ambitious, its implementation promises challenges.

“We are only at the beginning” because “there is now a need for funds and training,” warns Desmon Lewis, co-founder of the Bronx Community Foundation, which supports candidates and introduced them to a shop last week. -witness.

In recent days, information about the fragility of the public-private fund of 200 million dollars that the State has promised for advantageous loans and the provision of turnkey shops has had the effect of a cold shower.

“For some, it’s very destabilizing. They counted on this location and this help. They’re in a bit of quicksand,” adds Eli Northrup of the Bronx Defenders organization.

Competition

All in a context of strong competition, because the market is already occupied by the unofficial sale and arouses the appetite of large groups.

Since the consumption is legal, sellers operate in the open in the street, parks or on social networks, as well as “Smoke shops”, which offer weed joints and THC candies by taking advantage of the lack of controls. .

Obviously non-taxed products, unlike the legal market.

But Jeremy Rivera sees the opportunities. “There will also be people who have never been comfortable in the illegal market and who now want to buy from a reputable authorized seller”, with a guarantee on the provenance of the product, which must have been pushed within the borders of New York State, he explains.

“It’s the start of a market that’s open for 100 years,” he adds, taking a puff on a long joint.