![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cannabis-festival-harlem-claude-solnik-07192025-3-rotated.jpg\" "\\"Budding")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Mayor Eric Adams speaking to people at the NYC Cannabis Fair and Resource Festival in Harlem on July 19, 2025.<\/p>\n
Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n
After closing more than 1,400 illegal cannabis operations<\/a> in New York City while nearly 200 legal businesses bloomed, Mayor Eric Adams said Saturday he wants the city to become a \u201ccannabis capital\u201d<\/a> easier to open and do business.<\/p>\n Adams spoke to a crowd of more than 100 people on July 19 at the first New York City Cannabis Festival and Resource Fair, held at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure that New York becomes the cannabis capital of the globe,\u201d Adams said. \u201cLearn, get more information and let\u2019s keep lighting up.\u201d<\/p>\n During the event organized by the New York City Department of Small Business Services, Hizzoner said the government can do more to assist those seeking to start cannabis businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to reduce the hurdles you have to go through to get the business up and going,\u201d Adams stated, including agencies and organizations seeking to help those interested and involved in the cannabis industry. \u201cSo far, we\u2019ve opened 175 legal dispensaries across the five boroughs.\u201d<\/p>\n Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services Dynishal Gross called this business fair in Harlem a \u201chistoric moment\u201d for this budding industry, which includes 433 cannabis dispensaries statewide.<\/p>\n \u201cHarlem, like many communities of color, was disproportionately impacted by cannabis prohibition,\u201d Gross said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about celebration. It\u2019s about equity.\u201d<\/p>\n Cannabis business challenges Still, legal hurdles remain, including pending court decisions that officials said are leading to delays in processing applications.<\/p>\n Felicia A.V. Reid, acting executive director for the state\u2019s Office of Cannabis Management, said they staffed up from 170 when she started to 250, recently hiring chief equity and chief medical officers.<\/p>\n The office held application rounds in November and December 2023 and reviewed or is reviewing November applications, but a court injunction put many, including dispensaries, on hold from December.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the supply side, cultivators, processors and distributors, we are going through those applications,\u201d Reid said.\n<\/p>\n In addition to adult cannabis use, Reid said the state sees the medical market as a key sector.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still mindful of the fact that the medical cannabis program is a huge thing for New Yorkers,\u201d she added.\n<\/p>\n Jessica Naissant, CEO of the Renaissa\u00f1t NYC dispensary in Sunnyside, Queens, which opened on April 11, said hers is the first Haitian American-owned dispensary statewide.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me two and a half years from application to grand opening,\u201d said Naissant, who had been arrested five times for low-level cannabis and is now a board member of the New York Cannabis Retail Association. \u201cIt drained my savings.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she dealt with everything from bureaucracy to bad business partners, but is finally open for business.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI still made it happen,\u201d Naissant added. \u201cMy story is New York\u2019s legacy to legal vision. Legacy isn\u2019t just a buzzword; it\u2019s a battle. I\u2019m not in this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Erin Thurmond, president of Pif Pharm Cannabis Co., however, said he has been seeking various licenses for several years.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t continue to participate in selling cannabis while seeking a license,\u201d he said, noting he has a location. \u201cI have investors, but they can\u2019t invest until I have approval.\u201d<\/p>\n A member of Legacy Unites Community and the Justus Foundation, Thurmond is hopeful, waiting to participate in the legal cannabis economy.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m being told that I\u2019ll get replies before the end of this year,\u201d Thurmond said. \u201cI\u2019m praying for it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n With New York City legal sales topping $350 million, Mayor Adams says he wants more to be done to expand the Big Apple\u2019s cannabis economy \u2014 and make amends for decades of disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws that harmed generations of people.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe want more of that money to be in your pockets, not the government\u2019s pockets,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to fight with Albany to do an examination of the taxes. \u2026 We want careers that support families. We want our businesses to flourish. We want those who were the victims of over-policing in the cannabis industry that we fought to stop to be part of that growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Eric Adams speaking to people at the NYC Cannabis Fair and Resource Festival in Harlem on July…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":78115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,53977,53978,53979,53980,53981,5289,5231,53982,46601,20209,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,53983,53984,53985,53986,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-78114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-cannabis-entrepreneurs","10":"tag-cannabis-equity","11":"tag-cannabis-industry","12":"tag-cannabis-licensing","13":"tag-cannabis-regulation","14":"tag-eric-adams","15":"tag-harlem","16":"tag-legal-dispensaries","17":"tag-marijuana-legalization","18":"tag-medical-marijuana","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-new-york-city","21":"tag-newyork","22":"tag-newyorkcity","23":"tag-ny","24":"tag-nyc","25":"tag-nyc-cannabis-festival","26":"tag-office-of-cannabis-management","27":"tag-small-business-support","28":"tag-social-justice","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-united-states-of-america","31":"tag-unitedstates","32":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","33":"tag-us","34":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cannabis-festival-harlem-claude-solnik-07192025-1-rotated.jpg\" "\\"Budding")
Mayor Eric Adams speaking with Erin Thurmond, president of Pif Pharm Cannabis Co., at the NYC Cannabis Festival in Harlem on July 19, 2025.Photo by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n![\"woman](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/cannabis-festival-harlem-claude-solnik-07192025-2-rotated.jpg\" "\\"Budding")
Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services Dynishal Gross called this business fair in Harlem a \u201chistoric moment.\u201dPhoto by Claude Solnik<\/p>\n