Long Island's pot entrepreneurs still can't profit from 4/20

Puff-puff-pass is more like pass-pass-pass on Long Island, cannabis entrepreneurs say.

No licensed recreational marijuana dispensaries are open on the Island or delivering to the region on the third 4/20 since the state legalized the substance.

For decades, people have consumed and celebrated cannabis on April 20. The tradition has multiple origin stories: Some say the numbers refer to a police code for cannabis or a way to discuss pot on beepers, while others believe it came from the number of distinct compounds the substance was once thought to contain.

Despite snagging licenses, cannabis entrepreneurs on Long Island won't be hosting sales or other promotional events. The state's drawn-out application process and struggles to set licensees up with storefronts has jammed up the supply chain. Farmers have few, if any, stores to point consumers toward. Retailers are still working through administrative hurdles. And even Long Island entrepreneurs who are taking the day off say they're celebrating in New York City due to the lack of local venues.

Osbert Orduña, a Suffolk resident, has a license to open a shop in Queens and access a state-affiliated social equity fund to help finance it. A team of private investors were contracted to find and finance storefronts for the first round of retailers: business owners who have or are related to someone who has a marijuana-related conviction.

Getting a location approved by the fund has been challenging, Orduña said. So his business, The Cannabis Place, won't launch on April 20 as planned. Instead he's hoping to debut delivery service on May 1 within the city and Nassau County. 

"4/20 for us is not a day of celebration," Orduña said. "It's going to be a workday."

Ryan Andoos, who has a license to grow cannabis, will offer CBD, not marijuana, at Blue Point Brewery's Shakedown on Main Street bash in Patchogue. CBD comes from the same type of plant as marijuana, but contains less of the compound that produces a high. Working with CBD requires a different state license.

Processors have turned some of Andoos' marijuana crop into consumer-ready products and delivered them to dispensaries. But with few dispensaries open, much of the yield from his business, Route 27 Hempyard LLC, hasn't reached consumers yet, Andoos said. Eight licensed dispensaries are operating in the state, including five in the city.

"A little bit of money is starting to come in," Andoos said. "The state's still dragging stuff a bit, but at least we're getting some movement." 

Complications have made the rollout slower than New Yorkers would like, said Christopher Alexander, executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management, which regulates medical and recreational marijuana. 

"What I have said from the beginning is … it wasn't about being fast; it was about getting it done right," Alexander said at a Manhattan event on Wednesday. "That's what we're doing."

The delays have Carmine Fiore, of Levittown, questioning whether cannabis is the right industry for him. Fiore planned to pursue a dispensary license once the state opens applications to everyone. But he said a market analysis he recently commissioned is giving him pause.

"[A] majority of the clientele don't know the difference between an illicit shop or a legal shop, so I'll be competing with them," said Fiore, while describing lack of enforcement against rogue dealers and other concerns with the state's approach. "It's not financially responsible for me to sink my life's savings into the industry."

He'll spend April 20 studying the market research and, potentially, visiting a cannabis-themed museum in the city. 

Jessica Naissant, who has a dispensary application pending with the state, will also head to the city. The Valley Stream resident is excited to attend several 4/20 events and support new dispensaries — though she wishes she could shop locally.

"It's my favorite holiday," said Naissant, who has several friends coming to New York for the state's first 4/20 with licensed vendors. "The world is changing."

By Sarina Trangle

sarina.trangle@newsday.comSarinaTrangle

Sarina Trangle covers affordability and cost of living issues and other business topics. She previously worked as an editor and reporter at amNewYork.