Vintage iron light fixtures cast a soft orange hue over the live edge lumber counter. Purple track lighting surrounds an upcycled barnwood display case filled with a curated collection of branded lifestyle and wellness products. Hip-hop gently streams from camouflaged speakers.
This is clearly not your groovy head shop from the ’70s. In fact, the vibe is closer to a hip health spa or Brooklyn rooftop bar—and that’s exactly what owner Beth Smith was aiming for at The Purple Owl, an adult-use recreational cannabis dispensary that recently opened in White Plains. “We’re very much a neighborhood store,” Smith says. “Consumers like that comfort, especially in the cannabis space. It’s new, it’s taboo, it’s stigmatized. Community members don’t have to worry that the PTA moms will see them going into a dispensary—and even if they do, this is the one to come to.” Smith would know: She’s a special education teacher who’s taught across Westchester. A lifelong county resident, her grandparents had a stationery store just down the block from where her shop is today.
Just as drinking alcohol is legal but driving while intoxicated is a serious offense, officers are being trained to detect signs of active cannabis inebriation by drivers on the road
An Uncharted Industry
When New York legalized recreational cannabis use in 2021, there were endless questions about how this new industry would run, both in terms of legality and functional commerce. Who would regulate it—and how? Would licensing fees and taxes make it prohibitively expensive for anyone other than large corporations to open retail establishments?
Nearly four years later, we have some answers. The newly empowered New York Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has released a detailed report on the first 18 months of legal recreational sales. Since the office began issuing recreational licenses in 2022—initially to existing medical dispensaries and then to independent retail locations—sales of cannabis have generated $1 billion in revenue. In fiscal 2024 alone, that included more than $1 million from hemp farmers, nearly $11 million in medical sales, and more than $68 million in adult recreational sales. Fiscal 2025 has already reached $64 million in adult use sales (as of press time), and we’re only halfway through the year.
Enforcement has also been a big cash generator for the state. Over 1,300 inspections of local businesses in 2024 led to $15 million in fines and the seizure of 16,900 pounds of illicit cannabis, valued at the street price of about $68.5 million. Taking on this gray market does more than just stem the tide of unlicensed smoke shops and bodegas: OCM data out of NYC shows that both the number of sales and the revenue at legal dispensaries rose sharply as the OCM padlocked unlicensed offenders. While it’s too early for any data showing that Westchester’s dispensaries saw a similar effect, six illegal smoke shops in New Rochelle alone were raided and shuttered in the summer of 2024.
There are currently about three dozen retail and medical dispensaries active in the state’s Mid-Hudson Valley region. Twenty-two of those are in Westchester County alone. When adult-use cannabis was first legalized, part of the legislation permitted local towns to opt out of allowing cannabis sales and commercial grow operations within their jurisdictions. Twenty-two localities chose to opt out, including Rye Brook, Larchmont, Irvington, Bronxville, and Pleasantville. As a result, legal dispensaries tend to attract clientele from neighboring towns—residents of Yorktown, which also opted out, need only drive a few minutes to peruse one of the three recreational dispensaries in nearby Cortlandt Manor and Peekskill.
Green Tax
The bulk of New York’s revenue from cannabis sales comes from taxing the product itself. THC and CBD products don’t have sales tax in New York, but rather their own “cannabis taxes.” While customers will likely find the 13% tax rate on the product jarring, here’s a look at the breakdown:
9% New York itself imposes a sizeable excise tax on recreational cannabis products, with funds sent straight to Albany. (Medical cannabis patients are only charged 3.15% at their dispensaries, reduced from 7% in June 2024.)
4% Local municipalities earn an additional 4%, with one-quarter going to the county and the remaining three-quarters going to the town, village, or city where the shop is located.
There are currently about three dozen retail and medicinal dispensaries active in the state’s mid-Hudson Valley region. Twenty-two of those are in Westchester County alone.
So where does all this money go? The OCM is quite transparent about this. After basic operating expenses, cannabis tax revenue is invested in the NYS Cannabis Revenue Fund, which is then awarded as grants to eligible programs.
40% to no-restriction grants to schools, awarded by lottery
40% to nonprofits and local government-led programs including job placement and skills services, healthcare, housing, and childcare services
20% to substance abuse treatment
Even towns that opted out of permitting cannabis sales can benefit from this revenue. While Westchester County did not respond to a request for information on total revenue collected so far (the final figures for 2024 won’t be available until after press time), we can do the math: As of press time, there were 295 adult-use and medical cannabis dispensaries open in New York State. With 22 in Westchester County, that’s about 7.5%. The New York OCM reported just over $757.8 million in cannabis sales for 2024—not accounting for population and sales density, Westchester County’s 1% revenue would be just shy of $7.6 million, with another $22.7 million collected by the towns and cities where dispensaries are located.
Barely Legal
Despite its newfound legal status in New York, cannabis remains federally illegal. In the office’s annual report, the OCM once again recommended rescheduling cannabis from a Schedule I substance (like heroin) to a Schedule III substance (like Tylenol with codeine or testosterone). In the interim, the governor’s office has shifted focus from policing possession to impairment. Simple possession is perfectly legal, and even possession in quantities above the legal limit is now only a fine rather than an arrest.
But just as drinking alcohol is legal but driving while intoxicated is a serious offense, officers are being trained to detect signs of active cannabis inebriation by drivers on the road, and the penalty is the same: a DUI.
So, has crime gone down as low-grade cannabis charges stop being enforced? It’s hard to say. “From the police perspective, it’s more about how the state is moving forward in a productive manner,” says Sergeant Robert Sprink of the Yonkers Police Department Information Office. Between March and November of 2024 alone, the City of Yonkers confiscated more than $60,000 worth of unlicensed, unregulated cannabis products from local smoke shops and neighborhood businesses. As a result, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano called for greater state and OCM oversight and help in shutting down illegal smoke shops that lack licensing and retail sales requirements.
According to the YPD, statistics do show an overall decrease in cannabis-related crime, but primarily because cannabis use isn’t a crime anymore. In other words, smelling like weed is no longer considered probable cause to detain an individual—suspicion and possession are not sufficient grounds to search someone. As a result, this leads to fewer arrests and fewer charges filed and reported to the state.
All Things Being Equal
Those previously criminal charges are something Juan Alverio knows all about. Beth Smith’s co-owner at Purple Owl and life-long Ossining resident, Alverio grew up with Smith’s son. Alverio’s first cannabis offense would have been expunged from his record, but then he got a second one—and a third…and a fourth. Local police seemed to take special interest in him, with penalties increasing with each offense. On one of these subsequent incidents, officers searched Alverio and charged him with possession of a concealed weapon—a nail clipper found in his pocket.
In the end, the criminal record that haunted him in his private and professional life was what helped Purple Owl receive one of the first 11 adult-use licenses awarded in New York State. Part of the OCM’s purview is to help alleviate “decades of over-criminalization and disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition—especially in Black and Brown communities,” according to the office’s 2024 report.
“Achieving our goal of awarding over 50% of initial cannabis licenses to Social and Economic Equity candidates is a testament to New York’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive cannabis industry,” says Felicia A.B. Reid, acting executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management. “This milestone reflects our dedication to creating opportunities for those most impacted by cannabis prohibition and ensuring equity remains at the heart of this market’s growth. These efforts have been instrumental in driving the market forward, contributing significantly to New York’s achievement of surpassing $1 billion in retail cannabis sales.”
These social and economic equity (SEE) applicants include the above-mentioned communities, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, distressed farmers, and service-disabled veterans. As of December 2024, the OCM issued nearly 1,500 adult-use licenses, of which 54.1% were awarded to SEE-eligible applicants like Smith and Alverio. This allowed Purple Owl to open initially as a delivery service, while local municipalities worked out the regulatory kinks of permitting cannabis sales in their jurisdictions.
Just three weeks into 2025, cannabis sales neared the $50 million mark—an astounding number.
High Times Ahead
Just three weeks into 2025, New York State’s cannabis sales neared the $50 million mark—an astounding number set to grow even larger as the strong interest in our region charges forward by leaps and bounds. While it’s easy to be captivated by the legal switch-up of a once criminally prosecuted drug to something so commonplace you can buy it in broad daylight, it’s important to remember what it all ties back to. As the OCM continues to bring new dispensaries to the county, it is also beginning its initiatives to reinvest in localities. The first round of Community Reinvestment Grant Program applications, which offers grants to communities disproportionately affected by prior federal and state drug policies, is now under review following the December 2024 submission deadline. Funded by cannabis taxes, the program will provide $5 million in grants that focus on housing, mental health services, and workforce development. With state and county revenue flowing in and the procedures in place to use that money for the betterment of the people, it’s hard to argue that the cannabis boom in Westchester isn’t taking all of us a little higher.
How Do New Yorkers Consume Cannabis?
Percentage and number of medical cannabis products by form of consumption from October 1, 2023 to September 30
The Cannabis Business By the Numbers
Source: NYS Office of Cannabis Management Annual Report, January 2025
Related: Purple Owl Dispensary Takes Cannabis Mainstream in White Plains
