From left, Lifted Attorney Thomas Spanos and Lifted Owner Tim Scoma are outside the store’s 320 N. Main St. location. Lifted is approaching its first anniversary, and Scoma has been busy giving back to the community with more than 15 unique donations and sponsorships to various non-profit organizations and individuals in need.
File-photo

As Tim Scoma nears the first anniversary of Lifted, the area’s first cannabis dispensary, he’s also looking back on what the business has been able to do for the community over the past year.

The dispensary, located at 320 N. Main St., is fast approaching its first anniversary, a milestone that Scoma, Lifted’s chief executive officer, is proud to attain.

“Yes. We are fast approaching our first anniversary,” he said. “One year of selling high-quality, clean, safe, tested cannabis products. We go to great lengths to sell only the highest, clean, quality strains.”

According to Scoma, New York state law requires cannabis distributors to reinvest back into the various communities where they operate.

“We’ve taken up supporting local non-profits and worthy causes in our area,” Scoma said. “We’ve far exceeded what the law requires of us – something I enjoy doing, supporting our local community.”

NYS’s Cannabis Community Reinvestment Program may designate donations to support initiatives that job placement, job skills services, adult education, mental health treatment, substance use disorder treatment, housing, financial literacy, community banking, nutrition services, services to address adverse childhood experiences, after school and child care services, system navigation services, legal services to address barriers to reentry, including, but not limited to, providing representation and related assistance with expungement, vacatur, substitution, and resentencing of marihuana-related convictions, and linkages to medical care, women’s health services and other community-based supportive services.

Taxes from legal adult-use cannabis sales in New York state go into the Cannabis Revenue Fund. According to the Cannabis Law (§ 99-ii), 40% of cannabis tax revenue is allocated to the communities most disproportionately affected by prior drug policies in the form of grants, overseen by the Cannabis Advisory Board (CAB), through the Community Grants Reinvestment Fund. Through these grants, the goal of OCM and the CAB is to distribute impactful funding to areas of the state that have been historically under-resourced, underserved, and over-policed. The future programmatic focus of the Community Reinvestment Program can change according to the guidance provided by the Cannabis Advisory Board.

Scoma said that Lifted has supported organizations and made donations to the National Comedy Center, WCA Foundation “Framed in Pink,” The Chautauqua Regional Community Foundation, the Anthony Senski Foundation, St. James Church, Italian American Festival, Chautauqua Opportunities Inc., Hopes Haven Women’s Shelter, the National Fire Safety Council Inc., the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Rochester, Italian American Charity Golf Association Inc., Kendall Club Police Benevolent Association, Jamestown Police Department’s 2025 Gold Tournament, Jamestown PRIDE 2025 sponsorship, Whirly Bird Music and Arts Festival, primary sponsorship, and the 2025 Western New York Volunteer Firemen’s Association.

In celebration of the company’s inaugural anniversary, Scoma has announced an exciting new development: Lifted will now provide delivery services to customers residing within a 20-mile radius of their storefront. This expansion of services aims to enhance convenience for local patrons, making it easier than ever to enjoy Lifted clean products.

Delivery service begins on June 9, Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

New York’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act was signed into law in March 2021. A slow rollout of legal marijuana products was always part of the state’s plan, but things moved slower than expected when it took months to even name members of the Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management. It wasn’t until former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned and Gov. Kathy Hochul took over that the Cannabis Control Board and Office of Cannabis Management were fully formed.

It took months before regulations were crafted – and those regulations included Conditional Adult Use Recreational Dispensary licenses. The CAURD licenses were challenged in court, further slowing the process. While the delays meant the state was losing tax revenue while ceding ground to illegal cannabis dispensaries – particularly in New York City – they also meant business owners like Scoma were left in limbo.

“It’s been a heck of a three-and-a-half-year ordeal,” Scoma told The Post-Journal in 2024. “You know when I started in 2021 it was baby steps. We didn’t have any regulation. We didn’t have any rules. We didn’t even have people staffed at the Office of Cannabis Management, and I was already starting to get things in place and figuring out what we can do with the place.”