John Schroyer at GMR has been writing some great pieces over the summer and in this his latest …..
He tells a story about a dispensary in NY whose name is well chosen for all the wrong reasons , “Smacked” .. first by Caurd and now by a law firm.. you have to feel for them
John writes a timely vignette about a problem that has plagued many businesses that have tried to get up and running on “Social Equity” plans that were more about PR for government and we’d suggest certain individuals within government who saw an opportunity to play an angle both as govt employees and then via personal re-invention as “advisors”.
Not exactly so in this case but keep that in mind when reading Johns’ piece.
This is not just a NY problem, the east coast, especially, is plagued by ill thought out, irresonsible social equity plans that were in the main self-promotion for politicians and administrators who didn’t have to take on any risk.
Caught between a rock and a hard place and yes they’ve certainly been smacked.
John writes by way of introduction
In a common refrain, Smacked said the debts and the lawsuit can be traced back to a flawed rollout of the New York adult-use marijuana market.
The first individually owned social equity cannabis dispensary in New York, Smacked LLC, is being sued by a Boston law firm that says the shop owes more than $143,000 in legal bills, plus interest.
It’s yet another twist in a common tale out of New York. The husband-and-wife owners of Smacked – Roland and Patricia Conner – said in a statement to Green Market Report that the debts and the lawsuit can be traced back to a flawed rollout of the New York adult-use marijuana market, making the lawsuit emblematic of financial troubles faced by early entrants to the state’s nascent cannabis trade.
The rush to open
Smacked originally opened for business in January 2023, but it closed temporarily for renovations between May and September, which cost the company months of sales revenue and contributed to its debts.
State regulators from the Office of Cannabis Management wanted that early open, according to the Conners, pushing for a soft initial opening at a “pop-up” location, while a state loan facilitated by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) and The Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund (CSEIF) was expected to pay for much of the permanent location in Manhattan. The Fund was seeded with $50 million in state money and supported with another $150 million from the private firm Chicago Atlantic.
That rush to market – along with problematic relationships with vendors that the company was encouraged to work with along the way – led to the company accumulating “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in debts, Smacked said.
“At the end of 2022, OCM was under enormous pressure to get 150 stores open, and with Smacked LLC being the first, they had to create a strategy, game plan and template that would get a dispensary up and running in the shortest amount of time. On paper, it looked like, ‘Hey, this is a great plan.’ But in execution, it was really, really difficult for us,” the company said in a statement.
Read the full article at
