Niagara Falls, N.Y. — The first recreational marijuana shop operated by the Seneca Nation of Indians is set to open for business on Wednesday in downtown Niagara Falls.
The shop, or dispensary, will also be the first prominent recreational marijuana retail outlet to operate legally in western New York. As many as 20 retail marijuana outlets have been operating for the last year or so in various locations on the Senecas’ territory in western New York, but those are independent and not owned by the nation itself, Seneca nation spokesman Phil Pantano has said.
The state itself recently awarded four licenses for dispensaries in the areas that includes Buffalo and Rochester, but none have yet opened.
The Senecas’ 2,500-square foot marijuana dispensary will be at the corner of John Daly Boulevard and Niagara Street, next to the nation’s Seneca One Stop gas station and convenience market. It will offer a full range of cannabis products to those 21 and older, and will include a drive-through window.
The Senecas have created a nation-owned enterprise called Nativa Cannabis to run the dispensary and a cultivation and processing facility on Seneca territory in the Southern Tier. The Senecas, whose territory includes land in Cattaraugus, Erie and Niagara counties, also operate three full-service casinos among other business enterprises in the region.
Last fall, nation president Rickey Armstrong, Sr. announced the plans for the Senecas to offer a ”vertically integrated (seed to sale)” marijuana business.
New York legalized recreational marijuana for adult use in April 2021, but the roll-out of the industry, particularly the retail dispensaries, has been slow.
The state has awarded 165 retail licenses under a program intended to provide “social equity” for those impacted by criminal enforcement in the past. But there are only seven state-licensed shops now open. Four are in New York City, with one each in Binghamton, Ithaca and Schenectady.
The Senecas are one of several Indian nations that have launched marijuana businesses across the state independent of state licensing. They include:
· The Cayuga Nation has a recreational dispensary at its Lakeside Trading post in Union Springs in Cayuga County and another south of Seneca Falls in Seneca County. It also operates a growing/processing facility in Seneca County.
· Last September, the Oneida Indian Nation announced plans to launch a “seed to sale” marijuana business that is expected to open retail outlets in 2023. The Oneidas plan to grow and process marijuana in a new 50,000-square-foot facility now under construction on Hill Road in Verona and sell it at shops on its lands in Oneida and Madison counties later this year.
· There are now more than a dozen licensed dispensaries on the Akwesasne Mohawk territory near Hogansburg, a tribal spokesman said. The Mohawks began licensing shops after several unauthorized businesses opened earlier in 2021. One of the Mohawk shops is owned by a Mohawk tribal member with a minority investment from actor and comedian Jim Belushi.
· The Onondaga Nation, whose territory is just south of Syracuse, has indicated it has no current plans to enter the marijuana business.
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Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
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