TOWN OF NIAGARA, N.Y. — Effective immediately, state-authorized cannabis sales in the Town of Niagara are officially legal for the first time, allowing local stores to begin applying for sales permits.
In 2020, the town had originally opted out of allowing marijuana sales. Now, just four years later, town supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso is changing course on her predecessor’s decision.
“We checked everything, and all of it pointed towards it [being] the right decision to opt in at this time,” Virtuoso said.
“What’s changed now, compared to 2020, when you made a different decision?” 7 News reporter Derek Heid asked.
“It was done, until we had a business approach us that needed support to get licensing,” Virtuoso said.
That business is Kari Bullman’s One Hemp Holistics.
The store first opened in 2018. It sells CBD products and is licensed to manufacture cannabis products, but with Town of Niagara law prohibiting cannabis sales, it could only distribute its products elsewhere.
“We’d have to move out and find another jurisdiction or municipality [to sell our THC products]. We put our heart and soul into this location,” CEO/co-founder Bullman said. “I didn’t want to leave. This is where we established ourselves, and the Town of Niagara is a great place to do business.”
With this recent change, now, Bullman’s local business is applying for a sales permit to finally sell its own products at her store.
“It only made sense to go after the license [to sell cannabis products] and do exactly what we do on the hemp side,” Bullman said.
What’s in it for the town?
With Bullman’s business being the lone location applying to legally sell at this time, Virtuoso tells 7 News the taxes received from just one business never factored in the decision.
“It’s a safety issue, we have a lot of illicit places that will now be shut down,” Virtuoso said.
“By making it legal, hopefully it pushes illegal [dealers] out, that’s the whole purpose,” Town of Niagara Police chief Craig Guiliani said.
“The illicit [drugs], you don’t really know what they are because they’re not regulated, these [legal businesses] are strictly regulated,” Virtuoso said.
“And it only makes sense, from a consumer perspective, to have safe regulated cannabis in the town,” Bullman said.
Now with support from the town, Bullman is waiting for her state approval to sell the cannabis products she already legally produces.
