As legalization spreads, entrepreneurs are opening unlicensed dispensaries in the Big Apple and other cities to establish a business before corporate cannabis descends. Inside the battle for billions in marijuana's grey market.
In April 1998, Ralph Elfand and his son Jonathan were busted for operating a marijuana cultivation site inside a Brooklyn warehouse. Ralph, then 59, was sentenced to three years in prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cannabis while Jonathan, 30, was sentenced to 10 years.
Without the threat of cops busting down doors, the grey market has flourished. Some entrepreneurs, including the Elfands, have decided to go after what they see as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in New York: get a head start on what is projected to be a $4.2 billion market within five years before publicly-traded, are operating retail stores for recreational consumers.
A criminal defense attorney named Lonny Bramzon opened an unlicensed “cannabis gifting lounge” in lower Manhattan. While Weed World Candies—which was cofounded by a man who calls himself “Dr. Dro”—and is famous for its trucks that sell CBD lollipops, has a big store near Madison Square Garden offering the real stuff.
“These violators must stop their activity immediately, or face the consequences,” Cannabis Control Board Chair Tremaine Wright said in a statement. “Most drug dealers are pretty good businesspeople,” Jimmy says. “We say to them, ‘Look, instead of you sitting on the corner and selling marijuana, work with our truck.’”
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