The first recreational cannabis sale in the Capital Region was made Friday. WAMC’s Southern Adirondack Bureau Chief Lucas Willard was in Schenectady for a soft opening of the region’s first dispensary.
“3…2…1…Upstate Canna Co!”
With the cut of the green ribbon, Upstate Canna Co on upper Union Street began its first day of retail cannabis sales – the first dispensary to open in the Capital Region.
Following a ceremony for the news cameras, store manager Renata Filiaci pointed to a large glass display case filled with a variety of products.
“We have our flower up here, and then we have gummies, edibles, vapes, drinks, pre-rolls, we’ll have more tinctures, and we’ll have CBD, a whole CBD section…”
With a grand opening set for Saturday morning, Filiaci says the store is ready to serve the public.
“We’ve received probably 90, I’d say 99 percent of our stuff so far. But we probably will have more, and we’ll see what happens,” said Filiaci.
Friends and supporters crowded the retail counter as Upstate Canna Co made its first sale.
“There we go! Congratulations…”
The first buyer was Chuck VanDemark, head grower at Adirondack Hemp, one of the dispensary’s cultivators. VanDemark, who picked up two strains of cannabis flower, said he couldn’t believe that he was making the first purchase of legal cannabis, let alone of his own product.
“It’s changing my whole life. I mean, I went from being a criminal for the past 30 years to now being accepted in the community and able to tell people what I do for a living. I’ve never been able to talk about this my whole life. This is something that we weren’t able to do. So, this is a big moment,” said VanDemark.
Upstate Canna Co is operating under one of New York’s Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses – the first kind of license rolled out in the state. The CAURD program is intended to help operators who have been most impacted by cannabis prohibition.
Don Andrews is the owner of Upstate Canna Co…
“It’s been a long journey. I’ve been through a bunch of BS to get to where I’m at today so it just feels good to be in a position that I’m in and to be able to work with like-minded people and to be able to give back to my community, too, at the same time. So, it’s a great feeling,” said Andrews.
Applicants are also required to demonstrate they’ve operated a profitable business. Prior to changing its name to Upstate Canna Co, the retail store in Schenectady was named Upstate CBD. Prior to that, Andrews opened a vape shop in the neighboring Village of Scotia a decade ago. Even before New York legalized recreational cannabis two years ago, Andrews said he was preparing for this moment.
“As our neighboring states opted in, it was only a matter of time before New York did, so I just kind of set that up for myself so we could kind of just jump right in when the market became legal in New York,” said Andrews.
Andrews’ license allows him to sell adult-use cannabis at three locations. He’s planning on bringing cannabis to Upstate Canna Co’s nearby Glenville location next. Glenville opted out of state law allowing retail dispensaries and on-site consumption sites in 2021.
Glenville Town Supervisor Chris Koetzle, a Republican who showed up to support Andrews on Friday, said the town will be considering a change.
“The town board is looking at it and is talking with Don about it and our planners, and it looks like we’ll be calling a public hearing this Wednesday for the 19th on the matter before the town board makes a determination one way or the other to allow it or not to allow it,” said Koetzle.
The launch of recreational cannabis has advanced at a snail’s pace in New York, with Upstate Canna Co joining just a handful of locations opened since late December.
Chris Alexander, Executive Director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management, acknowledged the slow rollout.
“But it’s part of the nature of what we’ve committed ourselves to doing, right? We’ve committed ourselves to doing this in a little bit of a different kind of way. And soo, we’ve just got to keep going. We’re going to see kind of an uptick in openings in the next couple of weeks and months. I know it’s been slow getting to this point, but, honestly, we’re trying to grow the market responsibly. We’ve got some really great product coming down the supply chain, and we’re just trying every day to get more stores open,” said Alexander.
