Legal weed is coming soon, New York, by bike that is, pot shops are taking too long to open

Legal cannabis stores are particularly behind schedule in New York City, but delivery services could start as early as next week and they expect to do some good business over the holidays.

Following last week's announcement by the Office of Cannabis Management that it had issued its first 36 retail licenses as New York moves closer to becoming what will be Probably the largest legal weed market in the country, the sad fact is that precious few retail stores are set up.

Chris Alexander, executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management in New York City, told WNYC's Brian Lehrer on Friday that they hoped to start the process by allowing retail businesses other than storefronts to begin next day delivery service. week as a means of reviving sales of cannabis for adult use.

"With the authorization to have a dispensary, you are also authorized to deliver your pre-ordered and delivered products while waiting for their locations to be finalized," said Alexander, adding that the operational details will be available next week.

Sell it before it rots: As it stands, tons of cannabis worth millions of dollars grown in upstate New York remain in warehouses. If farmers don't get their crops into stores quickly, their nearly $1 billion in revenue will eventually rot.

Delivery will make things happen

Dan Livingston, executive director of the Cannabis Association of New York, called the delivery option a positive development.

"There's some excitement because we felt the delivery might not make that first cut," Livingston said per The City. "The fact that dispensaries can handle their own delivery is exciting because we know that's where the market is, in New York in particular."

Open Secret: New York Weed Delivery Has Been a Long Time

Weed delivery has been happening in the Big Apple for years. Indeed, many say delivery has been at the heart of the city's burgeoning legacy cannabis industry, which the state's legal cannabis bureaucrats seem to be wisely taking a lesson from.

While New York's 150 licensees have been assigned specific counties for their retail operations, for now delivery services will allow them to operate anywhere in the city, noted David Feder, an attorney who founded the Weed Act.

"It's a whole universe that can be completely separate from a brand's retail experience," Feder said, noting that licensees "can offer two very important and meaningful brand that can cater to different audiences completely.”

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