New York has finally legalized recreational marijuana, after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed the bill into law at the beginning of April. The law allows New Yorker’s to possess up to 3 ounces of cannabis for recreational use, as well as, expunges certain marijuana related convictions. With the largest city in North America becoming legal, this opens up a multi billion dollar market and tremendous opportunities. Watch as Duane and Harry explore the opportunities with New York becoming legal.
Video Transcription
Harry Brelsford 0:02
Hey, hey 420MSP back with Duane Roebuck, of Blue Star, one of the first people I met on the Cannatech journey. Thank you, sir, for being my friend.
Duane Roebuck 0:14
Thank you, Harry, it’s easy to be friends with you, brother.
Harry Brelsford 0:18
Can’t wait till we get back to events. I know, we’re just right around the corner on the live events. So we’re gonna, we’re gonna have stories to tell. But that’s not why we’re here, my friend. We’re here because I want to get your insights into New York State going legal? I mean, if maybe three or four things stand out on that, and I’ll probably bounce back at you on it.
Duane Roebuck 0:39
Well, I mean, without a doubt, you know, that’s huge news in this industry. I believe that transpire. Like a week ago, Governor Cuomo signed it on a Sunday. And so to see that it looms large, because you’ve got the largest city in North America now, where, you know, this can open up to and so the possibilities are tremendous. You know, and I think it will also help further advocacy for, for, you know, legal legalization, you know, because you, you know, now this is the home of banking, Wall Street.
Harry Brelsford 1:21
You know, that’s, that is a good point. I didn’t think of that. Thank you, sir.
Duane Roebuck 1:25
Yeah, cuz, you know, I know some of the big banks have been wanting in on, you know, some transactions, and they want to support the industry, but they’re, they’re just handcuffed because of it. So now, if you look at it, you’ve got three of the largest metro areas in the country. And definitely on the east coast. You’ve got Washington DC, where you know, it’s fully legal there. And then you’ve got now New York. So New York, New York City, New York metro area. And then Boston, you know, so New Jersey? Yeah, yeah. From a City metro area, but yeah. Oh,
Harry Brelsford 2:09
got it. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nope. Got it. Yeah, it’sDuane couple observations. One is I and I need to catch up on doing some reading. And I’ll tell you why I’m busy. This is moving really, really fast. And so on other talks with you I talked about I tried to be Warren Buffett and read for two hours in the morning, before I start my day, and I respect that somehow those two hours have disappeared.
Duane Roebuck 2:37
They always do.
Harry Brelsford 2:38
Yeah, they always do. And I so I read the New York Times piece, and I’m going to do some research, you know, on a Sunday speaking to the New York Times, but it was interesting how they framed it up that maybe there was taxation envy with New Jersey, you got a governor with all due disrespect, who’s who’s got some political problems. And so they wrote about this, this was his chance to get a win. It looked like it was an overwhelming Democratic majority that passed this legislation. So it’d be a stretch to say it was bipartisan. The New York Times did not frame it up as bipartisan. And that’s not a surprise. Yeah,
Duane Roebuck 3:21
yeah. I mean, very, you know, few things and politics today are bipartisan. You know, yeah, I try to stay away from the political aspects and look at the good, you know, because, you know, New York is already coming out and talking about social advocacy. And they did,
Harry Brelsford 3:43
yeah, they did.
Duane Roebuck 3:45
So, you know, like, she, the only other area that I’ve seen, you know, with that type of focus would be Illinois. And so, you know, they’re saying cannabis transactions won’t happen in New York until 2022. But, you know, so what I’ve been doing is, you know, monitoring the other big city, you know, Chicago, and the Illinois market and seeing, you know, like those guys, as they’re coming on board, you know, I don’t know if you paid attention, but they just had a record month, where they grew 35% month over month, and
Harry Brelsford 4:21
I’m sorry, I missed the the geography Forgive me. What was the geography?
Duane Roebuck 4:25
Illinois?
Harry Brelsford 4:27
Illinois. Okay. Jim remke Okay. Yeah, they
Duane Roebuck 4:30
just did 109 million then cannabis sale 35% over what they did the month prior. So, you know, when you look at New York, and, you know, granted, you know, I know I’ve been talking, you know, a lot about New York City, but you do have other metro areas, you know, like Albany, Syracuse, Buffalo. But you know, the big fish by far is going to be New York City, so You know, I can anticipate in New York City doing over 109 million on their own, you know, oh, yeah. And then, you know, I was hopeful that Illinois would be the first city to truly embrace. I mean, first state with Chicago being the first city that truly embrace it, and maybe have a dispensary on the Magnificent Mile. And I know at one point medmen was talking about opening up a dispensary on Fifth Avenue. So I think we may be able, you know, through New York City, to see cannabis embrace in a mainstream way. That hasn’t happened, you know, here in the United States. So far, a lot of the places have been relegated to, to industrial, you know, old industrial areas, you know, where you’re kind of off the beaten path, but it would be nice to see someone put it in the mainstream.
Harry Brelsford 5:59
Yeah. And then maybe one final point. And you kind of alluded to it, The New York Times spoke about it. But basically, the New York Times was saying in their article, and this was an early article, because this was breaking news, right? So so bear with them, but basically saying along the lines of 18 to 24 months before the dispensaries get licensed, and the regulations get put in place. And there’s the two board the bodies that will manage that in the state of New York. And I believe that having been around, you know, this isn’t my first rodeo, and cam attack. And what I want to tell the partners at 420MSP just MSPs resellers in your world, is the time clock has started. Okay, the time clock has started. You got 18 months? You know, I don’t think it’ll be six months, Duane. I mean, I think you have a little time. I love your opinions.
Duane Roebuck 6:54
Well, you know, I think I think I would be surprised if it took 18 months, you know, okay, especially in light of, you know, some of the political turmoil, you know, that, that you mentioned, you referenced earlier, because as Americans, we, you know, we’ve been conditioned to have a very short attention span. You know, I think the quicker that lead, you know, the, the current administration in New York King get that stuff rolling, and the narrative becomes, you know, the the jobs, you know, the higher paying jobs, the revenue that’s coming in, it serves him, you know, a lot better than, you know, getting it done sooner than later. But we’ll see, you know, once it comes to taxation, and who’s going to get what, that tends to slow things down. But you know, it’s not like, this is something that hasn’t been done before. So, you know, I think people can fast track it. And, you know, the one who I feel pretty bad about his jersey, because I’m sure they were licking their chops saying, Hey, you know, we’re gonna have New York City coming to us. And you know, that’s a lot closer than people having to drive to, you know, Massachusetts. So it’ll be it’ll be interesting to see. You know, how both states push this along.
Harry Brelsford 8:19
Yep. All right, my friend. We’ll see you next month and glad that you’re healthy and safe. And I’m right behind. Yes. So thank you. All right. Bye bye.
