Settlement clears way for Long Island's 2nd recreational marijuana dispensary

Long Island’s second recreational marijuana dispensary could open by the year’s end, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday, after settlement of a court case that had prevented the state from issuing new retail licenses.

Happy Days Dispensary, near Farmingdale in Babylon Town, was one of 13 dispensaries with recent or imminent openings listed in a release from Hochul’s office.

The business was one of many across the state whose openings had been stalled by an injunction in a state Supreme Court case preventing the state from issuing the licenses they needed to operate. That case, brought by disabled military veterans who allege the state ignored the licensing priority they were entitled to under state law, settled in early December, along with one brought by medical marijuana firms.

“This is great news,” Happy Days president Paul Lepore said in an interview. Lepore, a Suffolk County resident with a professional background in nutritional supplements, said the dispensary would offer more than 500 products from state-licensed growers and processors including “vapes, edibles, capsules, concentrates, flower, drinks, and topicals.”

Lepore said his company would employ 30 to 50 people and pay $21 to $35 an hour with a comprehensive benefits plan.

The dispensary will join another, Strain Stars, located nearby in the town.

That proximity is not a coincidence: Bridgehampton hemp farmer David Falkowski, a member of the trade group Cannabis Association of New York, said in an interview that close to 90% of Long Island municipalities had opted out of the 2021 state law legalizing retail marijuana sale.

Falkowski said that had turned most of Long Island into a “retail desert,” forcing customers to go out of their way and growers like him to make long trips upstate to sell their crop.

About three dozen businesses have licenses to open dispensaries on Long Island, but strict zoning regulations and legal challenges have slowed opening.

Officials in some towns and villages that opted out said they saw few benefits but serious risks in opening up to the trade, but Babylon Town has taken a different tack.

In an emailed statement, Matthew McDonough, a lawyer representing the town, said it “continues to be a trailblazer with the opening of a second cannabis retail location. In opening the first location on Long Island, Babylon proved we are open for business. With our second, we have shown we can continue to balance economic opportunities with community well-being and regulatory compliance."