After long wait, new legal pot shop opens in Queens
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The co-owners of Terp Bros, Jeremy Rivera (left) and Al Cattone, cut the ribbon on their new legal pot shop on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
In Astoria on Tuesday, a man with three prior drug convictions sold two elected officials and one state employee pot products – and it was all totally legal.
Terp Bros, the first legal cannabis dispensary in Western Queens and the second in all of the World’s Borough, opened to fan fare from locals and elected officials Tuesday.
Terp Bros, located on Ditmars Boulevard, is the product of Al Cottone and Jeremy Rivera – who was convicted of drug-related charges three times, and jumped at the chance to apply for the state Office of Cannabis Management’ CAURD program, which is aimed toward previously convicted individuals.
“When I heard of the program, I fell in love with it and just like the type of person I am, I went headfirst and I gave everything into it and it paid off,” Rivera told the Eagle, just after cutting the ribbon on his new shop. “It feels amazing. It's really been a long time coming. It's been a lot of work, it's been a lot of heartache, it's been a lot of stress. It's been a lot of happy times also.”
It was a hazy path to the store’s opening.
To start, Rivera and Cottone’s application to open up the store was turned down several times.
Then, after being approved, Terp Bros prepared to open its doors in August when a lawsuit put 435 CAURD licenses under lock and key – the suit, brought by a group of veterans, claimed that OCM was violating state law by excluding groups from participating in the program.
Eventually, a judge ruled that Terp Bros, as well as four other applicants, could move forward with their scheduled opening, which came for Terp Bros this week.
The slow path to open has largely been indicative of the legal pot industry at large in New York State.
Speaking on Tuesday at the first dispensary opening since July, OCM’s Chief Equity Officer Damian Fagon said it had been a “rough couple of months.”
A new legal cannabis dispensary, Terp Bros, opened on Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria on Tuesday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“We are obviously still working through the court system, [through] the pathway that the judge laid out to get people exempted from the injunction,” he said. “We are hopeful that there's going to be dozens more through that process.”
Fagon said that it has been harder to facilitate any openings amid the legal troubles, but hopes the rollout, which was considered sluggish before the legal issues, continues to provide business opportunities to New Yorkers.
“There’s a couple of pathways, and we hope to fulfill our promise to CAURD licensees one way or the other,” he said.
Regardless of the ongoing legal issues, OCM and other legal cannabis advocates celebrated Terp Bros’ ribbon cutting on Tuesday.
The new dispensaries first three legal purchases were courtesy of Fagon, as well as local Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, and local Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas.
“We are so happy to welcome the Terp Bros here,” Caban said. “This is a step in the right direction, and it's equity, it is justice.”
Terp Bros is the first legal cannabis shop in Western Queens. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“These folks are embodying what it means to be part of the community, for the community, of the community,” she added. “It's just beautiful.”
Cabán, a one time public defender and self-proclaimed user of cannabis for anxiety and chronic pain, strongly supported weed’s legalization, and is excited about the opening of a shop in her district.
“It's so important to support the local economy, because every dollar spent here stays here,” she told the Eagle. “I'm just super, super proud. It's long overdue.”
González-Rojas also said she was happy to see an opening in her district after supporting cannabis’ legalization in Albany more than two years ago.
“As someone who sponsored the bill, supported the bill, voted for the bill, it's amazing to see the fruition of that action come to life,” she told the Eagle. “And having someone from Queens set up the shop here, in my district, is just incredibly powerful.”
Those two years have not been without issue, however.
In addition to the slow legal shop license roll out and the legal troubles, the city and state have been forced to contend with the scourge of illegal cannabis-selling smoke shops across the city.
Though the state’s marijuana legalization laws were meant to correct the inequities of the War on Drugs, some of the enforcement of the illegal shops and some continued enforcement of cannabis use has brought back similar issues, including the disproportionate arrests of Black and brown people for cannabis-related crimes.
“When it comes to the illegal cannabis shops, I don't want to see criminalization, but I do want to make sure that we are creating an environment where our legal shops are able to thrive and shops are doing what they're supposed to do,” Cabán told the Eagle.
Councilmember Tiffany Cabán made the new shop’s second legal purchase on Tuesday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
The progressive councilmember argued that enforcement agencies – naming specifically the Department for Consumer and Worker Protection and OCM – need to have enough workers and enough resources to keep illegal shops away.
“Making sure that we are doing the right kind of advocacy, policymaking and the appropriate kind of enforcement all around,” she said.
However, unlike some of his legal cannabis selling counterparts, Rivera doesn’t see the illegal shops as an issue for him.
“I don't I don't think they affect me at all,” he said. “The people, the constituents, the community, they want to buy legally. From what I've been hearing from the community that's been coming to our soft opening days, they have been waiting for this moment in Astoria, they have been waiting for a legal cannabis safe dispensary to open. They don't want that option, they don't want to shop in these illegal stores.”
Regardless of the illegal shops around Queens and the legal troubles that hindered its opening, Rivera is happy to get the next chapter of his life going.
“I'm excited, we're excited, the team's excited for the community, and we're ready to start selling some legal cannabis,” he said.
