NEWARK — Four years ago, Lucas Dobbins applied to New York State for a cannabis dispensary license.

On Feb. 18 of this year, he opened.

“It’s been a long struggle,” admitted the Lyons resident, who owns Haze and Harvest at the former Metro Mattress space in Arcadia Plaza on Route 31.

Dobbins noted he’s hardly alone. The state’s tortoise-like rollout of legal cannabis dispensaries left him spending a lot of money to launch his business but with no revenue coming in because of the slow issuance of licenses. He believes the delay also put a financial hurt on cannabis growers and product producers.

However, Dobbins wasn’t relying on his cannabis dispensary to make a living. He’s a contractor, store owner, laundry business owner, and a real-estate investor. Nonetheless, he’s had to invest plenty in both renovating the snazzy retail space and hiring capable staff.

“I’ve got people with college degrees working here,” he said in the new business recently, adding he has 12 full- and part-time workers, including Debbie Smith, his business secretary and now manager of Haze and Harvest. “Deb did most of the stuff with OCM (Office of Cannabis Management). She overlooks both businesses. She’s been a blessing.”

Now, he’s hoping to reap some rewards for that investment.

Since opening in February, Haze and Harvest has seen more and more people walk through its doors, Dobbins said.

“We’re on the right path,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of new customers.”

The surprising thing: the age of the customers. Most, said Dobbins, are older than 45.

While some may be getting back into cannabis now that it’s been, in some regards, decriminalized, others come to find something to help ease what ails them — from aches and pains to issues with insomnia. Some can be relieved with low doses of THC products — and without getting high, Dobbins said.

However, Dobbins and others who have chosen to become state-licensed cannabis dispensaries have an insidious competitor: illegal sellers that jumped into the business in New York before the state had issued licenses.

Despite OCM’s efforts to shut down illegal dispensaries, Dobbins said they’re all over.

“I’m competing with six illegal shops in a five-mile radius, with one just down the way in the plaza,” he said.

Dobbins said he can’t match their prices, as they compete in an unregulated and untaxed market. He wishes OCM would crack down on them, as they did with some others in Wayne County.

“If they were selling alcohol, (the state would) be there in a week,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

As of press time, a spokesperson for OCM had not replied to a request for comment on Dobbins’ concerns.

Dobbins thinks customers that use illicit stores are making a mistake. Everything he sells is tested for purity and manufactured by licensed operators. With the illicit shops, there’s no telling what you might get, he said.

“There’s no way they get the legal product I get,” said Dobbins, who points out that one of his biggest suppliers is Honest Pharm of Newark. Newark native Jeremy Jimenez, an executive with Honest Pharm, “has been a major help and consultant in regards to me getting my license.”

Dobbins said customers of the illegal shops are likely younger and less cautious than the kinds of people walking into his store.

“I’m more into customers that are into safety,” said Dobbins, whose Haze and Harvest is the third legal cannabis dispensary in Wayne County. Two more — one in Palmyra and one in Ontario — are expected to open this year.

Dobbins doesn’t consider these other shops competition, as he believes people will use the store closest to them.