Queens’ 1st woman-owned legal pot shop opens Thursday [Video]

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Queens will see its first recreational cannabis dispensary open later this week, and it’ll be the first woman-owned one supported by the state’s social equity investment fund, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Tuesday.

The announcement comes weeks after the state declared it was doubling the number of conditional adult-use retail dispensary licenses, from 150 to 300, thanks to a first-in-the-nation program that provides renovated retail locations to entrepreneurs previously criminalized by cannabis prohibition.

The Queens dispensary, called Good Grades, will open this Thursday at 2 p.m. at 162-03 Jamaica Ave. Hochul announced that it is a woman-owned family business run by Extasy James and her cousin, Michael James, Jr., a Jamaica, Queens native and lawyer.

The dispensary will open as a “pop-up.” According to the state, this will provide licensees the opportunity to open on a short-term basis to fast-track sales, provide training for employees, and start generating capital for their …