After a slow and tumultuous start in the Bronx, the cannabis industry gained some momentum in 2024. However, the journey for Bronx dispensaries remained challenging, as licensed operators and hopeful applicants faced obstacles like illegal shops, opposition from community boards, and legislative hurdles.

Community Board opposition

Many cannabis dispensaries opened in 2024 despite lacking support from community boards. For example, in January 2024, as stores prepared to open, many faced opposition from boards that had voted against granting them licenses. Of the 34 applications reviewed between September and December 2023, 25 were rejected by community boards, while only nine were approved.

The rejections, however, did not stop some of them from opening, since community boards do not have the autonomy to block them from being licensed. However, the board votes and recommendations are taken seriously by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) when it awards cannabis retail licenses.

Aspiring cannabis entrepreneurs in the Bronx were determined to succeed, opening nine licensed dispensaries in the Bronx for the 2024 year through Dec. 20, which came on top of the two that opened in 2023. Still, dispensary owners told the Bronx Times that even after getting a license and opening for business, staying competitive and turning a profit wasn’t easy.

Crackdown on illegal smoke shops

The city and state took action this summer to reduce competition for licensed cannabis dispensaries in the Bronx, as Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams launched a coordinated crackdown on smoke shops and bodegas selling illegal cannabis.

In May, Hochul expanded enforcement against unlicensed sellers by establishing the New York State Cannabis Enforcement Task Force. That same month, her initiative inspired Adams to launch “Operation Padlock to Protect,” a multi-agency program aimed at shutting down stores peddling illicit cannabis and vape products.

Adams lauded Operation Padlock to Protect in July at a press conference in the Bronx following the raid of a warehouse in the 40th Precinct where police found millions in illegal products. From May through July, Operation Padlock to Protect sealed over 775 illegal smoke shops city-wide and seized over $41 million in illegal, unregulated products, Adams said.

The city and state argued that the raids had helped the legitimate stores.

Hochul announced in September that licensed weed sales in 2024—statewide— were more than double that of 2023.

Levent Ozkurt, owner of Bronx-based Hush NYC on Williamsbridge Road, said in September that he’s seen the increased enforcement make a difference.

“We’ve definitely seen an increase in sales to the point that we increased our hours,” Ozkurt said.

But the future of the crackdown is uncertain. In October, a Queens judge ruled that the law allowing the Sheriff to unilaterally padlock shops accused of selling cannabis without a license was unconstitutional because it deprived business owners of due process.

The Mayor’s office said it would continue to lock up illegal smoke shops and promised to appeal the judge’s decision, according to reports.

Mismanagement and chaos at OCM

But Bronx cannabis store owners said it was an arduous process opening a dispensary in the first place. Bureaucratic hurdles at OCM made opening a legal dispensary a long and expensive process that entrepreneurs said set them up for failure.

In response, Hochul launched a task force in March to investigate OCM’s application process for New York state retail cannabis licensing.

The findings reflected what Bronx applicants and business owners previously told the Bronx Times. The rollout of the Adult-Use Retail cannabis license application and review was “chaotic,” “complex” and “obscure,” according to the task force’s final report in May.

The task force determined the application process for Adult-Use Retail licenses needed significant changes. The agency was understaffed and underutilized its budget by tens of millions of dollars, leading to a significant backlog of applications, according to the report. The task force also discovered that OCM’s review process could be deceptive.

The report revealed that OCM collected nonrefundable application fees from New Yorkers seeking to open licensed cannabis dispensaries, despite having no intention of reviewing all submitted applications. Many applicants were required to secure and pay for property—through leases or purchases—before OCM would even consider issuing a retail license. This left many operators burdened with rent or mortgage payments for businesses without any assurance that their applications would be reviewed, let alone approved.

Mismanagement, conflicting directions and a lack of transparency has led to widespread suspicion and “an environment of deep mistrust,” the report said.

Bronx legal dispensary owners like David Nicponski of Freshly Baked on Arthur Ave. lost trust in OCM a long time ago, telling the Bronx Times that changing regulations, lawsuits and long periods without any communication from OCM left him “obscenely frustrated” and on the hook for a lot of money.

“Every promise that the state makes to us gets broken,” Nicponski said. “Every single one of them.”