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As New York’s legal cannabis program limps toward its most important goal of actually allowing the sale of weed in retail shops, NYC residents have options as they wait for the state bureaucracy to catch up.
If you happen to live in the Big Apple, you’ve probably seen colorful cannabis trucks. These mobile marijuana vendors are the brainchild of Uncle Budd whose trucks first appeared on the streets in September 2021. Soon thereafter, others followed until they got the boot, that is the wheel boot clamped onto their front tire along with citations for a half-million bucks in unpaid parking tickets.
But Not Uncle Budd
Born and raised in Harlem, Uncle Budd knows all too well that illegal parking can be an expensive offense. So, he and his team kept going.
“The truck idea was brilliant and fun. We were right there on the street with people and cars passing by,” said Uncle Budd who attended the recent Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago.
But alas, in September 2022 NYC police officers appeared, ostensibly under orders from the Sheriff’s office, and confiscated all 12 trucks in an unexplained sweep. In fact, the city still has them. None of the trucks had outstanding parking tickets and were breaking no laws.
Uncle Budd explained to Benzinga that the trucks were not in the business of “selling cannabis,” but rather giving it away for a small donation, which went right back to the original community that “created the business of selling weed” in the first place: legacy weed sellers.
“We’re trying to keep them alive by enabling them to thrive. They’re the original cannabis community that has been doing this successfully for decades and they want to keep doing it.”
Uncle Budd Has A Point: To get a license to sell, grow or open a retail shop is beyond most peoples’ reach. Despite Gov. Hochul‘s pledge to support social equity applicants, the program is burdened with requirements that are difficult to fill.
Uncle Budd said he’d welcome a conversation with New York’s in the hope of expanding its work to include a broader section of the original cannabis community though he recognizes that legalization is a work in progress and unity is essential.
H/T: finance.yahoo.com
