Legal pot comes to Queens

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards makes the first legal weed purchase in Queens’ history on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Legal pot has officially come to Queens.

On Thursday, the opening of “Good Grades” on Jamaica Avenue, marked the first time legal marijuana was purchased and sold legally in the World’s Borough.

Good Grades, just a stone's throw from Jamaica Center, is the first legal cannabis shop in the World’s Borough and sixth state wide – but is the first of its kind as the first woman-owned cannabis shop in New York State.

“​I feel very good, I feel accomplished, I feel very excited,” owner Extasy James told the Eagle as the first legal weed customers in Queens flooded into her store. “I feel the love, I feel the support, I feel great energy. I'm glad that they came here to support.”

James, a second generation American whose entire family calls Queens home, is now the first woman to legally sell weed in the history of the borough, selling a litany of cannabis and CBD products with her cousin Micheal James, a lawyer who works with people looking to get into the legal cannabis industry.

“Although it's a family affair, we would not be here without many people, it's an important thing that has helped us get to this thing,” he said.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards was excited about the opening, so much so he became its first official customer, walking out with two packs of “oHHo” CBD edibles.

“It's so special to be here in my neighborhood, went to Jamaica High, got high in Jamaica High a few times,” he remarked, calling the James family “trailblazers.”

“It's really a special moment to be here to celebrate this moment with both of you, but more importantly, as they both alluded to, to fix what we know was broken for a long time,” he said. “When I think about what today means I think of how long and hard this societal shift has been to get us here, and this is nothing short of transformational for Queens.”

Richards, who has been a proponent of legalization since his days in the City Council, spoke about how the war on drugs negatively impacted the Black and brown communities of Southeast Queens and Jamaica.

“What was once a tool to use to target communities of color, is now a crucial and legal piece of our economic puzzle that will create jobs, create wealth, create opportunities in the same communities,” he added.

Good Grades is starting as a pop up, which will be open for 40 to 60 days, and then will close and complete construction to become a permanent dispensary.

Rufus McDaniels, of the state Dormitory Authority and a board member of the Office of Cannabis Management, said the process of opening temporary shops will expedite the opening of dispensaries, which has been slow going since the market officially opened at the start of this year and was legalized in 2021.

“This is just another example of a great entrepreneur meeting the moment, working together with a great team,” he said. “We're very excited about being throughout the city of New York and the state of New York.”

State officials are looking to speed up the opening of dispensaries in the state, with a few more on the way including another this week in Schenectady.

“The goal was to get this done right,” said Chris Alexander, executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management and a Queens native. “That's been our focus, and that has taken some time but that's going to stay our focus to make sure that we're continuing to roll out stores run and operated by folks like the James family.”

As the state has worked to ramp up legal operations, illegal sellers have popped up across the five boroughs, which has created an enforcement problem for Alexander’s office as well as law enforcement across the state.

“Priority one and priority one-A,” he told the Eagle. “We really can't do this successfully until we take on the illicit shops.”

“My team is out there every day seizing products,” he added. “We want them to close now permanently, but in the meantime, we're going to keep hitting them in the pocketbook.”

Although that ongoing battle continues, Alexander was excited for the opening of the first dispensary in his home borough.

“I'm so excited about the business that is going to be here, that's going to thrive here, that's going to grow here,” he said.

Jamaica resident John Brown became the first member of the public to purchase legal marijuana at Good Grades on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

Although Richards was Good Grades’ first official customer, Jamaica local John Brown was eager enough to be the first person on line when the doors opened to the public, and the first person to walk the streets of Jamaica with locally bought legal pot.

“I live in the area and I smoke weed….Now I am just ready to get high,” Brown told reporters. “I have been smoking since I was 12 when it was illegal, and I was getting locked up for it. So now that it's legal it's actually better.”

Brown said he spent around $100 on his purchase.

Behind Brown in line were a couple of other Queens locals, looking to check out what Good Grades had to offer.

“I'm interested to see what the whole rollout of these dispensaries is like,” said Peter Simicic of Flushing, who said he checked out the new Manhattan dispensary as well. “It was pretty cool, and then hearing that there was one 20 minutes from where I live, I said, ‘Yeah, why not?’”

Simicic says that the prices for the legal ventures are comparable with that he has seen elsewhere, albeit with the added government tip.

“I would say obviously with the taxes and then everything on top of it, the bill seems to come pretty high, but it's pretty comparable,” he said.

Comparable prices were all 64-year-old Jamaica resident Earle Jones was after.

“I smoke and it's right around the corner from my house so I figured I’d come down and see what the prices look like,” he said. “I just want to see if they have prices competitive with the streets.”

Jones, who has been smoking since he was 13, said that if it is too pricey, he’ll go right back to buying from those he’s frequented in the past.

“I’m economical,” he said, adding that he believed the state should have legalized marijuana a long time ago.

“They need to open them all,” he said. “They should have been doing this 20 years ago.”’

Extasy James feels the same, and has spent the past year trying to figure out how to open her shop.

Extasy James (left) and her cousin Michael James opened Queens’ first legal pot shop on Thursday, March 30, 2023. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

“Like any process, to get to where you need to be is hard,” she said. “You do everything, you have to do hard work, and stick to the plan. Eventually it all add up and you get to where you are.”

James said she is honored to be the first woman to own a pot store in the state, and hopes that it can be a way to give back to the community.

“I don't even know how excited I am for this opportunity, but I want to give back to the community to let them know I'm from the community,” she said. “We’re finally here, a dream came true.”