A year after New York legalized marijuana for recreational use, a bright-green sign shaped like the plant’s leaf signaled the arrival of a dispensary called Budega on an industrial corner in Queens.
The sleek shop, where customers purchase memberships for points that can be redeemed for weed, is one of thousands of illegal dispensaries that the state vowed to shut down.
Their owners would be banned from the legal cannabis market, officials said.
The situation exposes lapses in the vetting process, undercutting New York officials’ assurances that those who jumped the line to cash in on cannabis would not be rewarded over those who played by the rules.
He owns Budega NYC, a clothing and lifestyle brand whose name he intended to use for his own dispensary.
Persons:
Budega, “, ”, Alex Norman
Organizations:
New
Locations:
York, Queens, New York