Capital Region businesses get ready for retail cannabis

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The first round of retail cannabis licenses were distributed on Monday with 36 approved applications, including four right here in the Capital Region.

Applications are approved on a rolling basis through the Office of Cannabis Management, which is expected to announced another 114 businesses in the coming weeks. The approvals coming after a federal judge blocked five regions in the state from issuing cannabis licenses after a lawsuit from a Michigan-based company.

Donald Andrews owns Upstate CBD and said working with the OCM was a straightforward process.

“We jumped right on it," Andrews said. "It was extensive, it’s still ongoing, but we were able to get it done and make that happen.”

Andrews said the application is only the first step in the retail cannabis process. Now, he needs to submit more documents and wait for next steps from the OCM. But, his business could start before the end of the year.

“We should be able to get a delivery service up before the end of the year so we can start those legal sales," Andrews said.

Andrews is a long-time CBD store owner and said he hopes the implementation of legal cannabis into his business will help create local jobs and further economic growth.

“It’s always been a huge dream of mine to own and operate a dispensary," Andrews said. "Just being involved in the cannabis world, to be able to do things and actually move forward with it, especially with the business front and what I’ve created with it is huge.”