By Tiffany Kary, Bloomberg News on December 21, 2022

New York state will kick off legal recreational marijuana sales on Dec. 29, just in time to meet its goal of launching regulated, taxed sales before the end of the year.

Housing Works, a New York City-based nonprofit that runs a chain of thrift shops, will launch sales at a 4,400-square-foot Manhattan dispensary at 1 Astor Place, Governor Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday. All proceeds will be directed to the nonprofit. The charity, which provides services to people who were formerly incarcerated and those living with HIV/Aids, is one of three dozen groups and individuals awarded the state’s first retail licenses last month.

“Their decades of work with marginalized communities make them a perfect partner in the effort to ensure that New York’s cannabis market provides meaningful opportunities to those most impacted by the failed cannabis criminalization policies of the past,” said State Senator Liz Krueger in a statement.

– Read the entire article at Bloomberg News.