When New York authorities introduced the Big Apple to the legal cannabis market, they promised that only selected operators in compliance with administrative requirements would be licensed. Anyone else, so they said, would have to shut down.
That promise has apparently not been kept as Budega, one of the hundreds of unlawful shops that the state promised to close, was surprisingly given a retail license last month – marking the first time that an illicit business received one of the coveted permits.
The case of Budega, a Queens social club whose patrons buy memberships for points that can be exchanged for cannabis, highlights flaws in the screening procedure and calls into question the promises made by New York authorities that people who jumped the queue to profit from cannabis would not be favored over those who followed the law.
Although Budega has been awarded a license, it has not yet gotten official approval to open. However, Haydee Velez Keeby, the owner of Budega, stated that she and her co-owners had been “following all the rules and regulations” and expressed her satisfaction with getting a license when contacted by phone by the New York Times last Wednesday.
Two sources claim that Governor Kathy Hochul, who has directed an examination of the Office of Cannabis Management, desires that hundreds, if not thousands, of qualified applications be approved as soon as possible.
The governor’s spokesperson, Miguel Arreola, opted not to comment on the license controversy. However, he said that the governor “has repeatedly said that the status quo with cannabis in New York is unacceptable, that licenses should be issued as quickly as possible and that unlicensed businesses should be shut down and held accountable.”
Budega’s website states that subscriptions range in price from $100 to $1,000. The store already collected at least 4,000 subscribers, according to Franki Rosado, 26, the alleged manager.
Although the license appears to have been granted, it is a mystery as to who and why issued it. Prompted by the Times, James McClelland, the district manager of Community Board 9 in Queens, formally asked the Office of Cannabis Management whether the license had really been granted. The agency’s deputy director for intergovernmental affairs, Pascale Bernard, replied via email that HVK, “not the Budega” club, was the recipient of the dispensary license that the agency had given.
