By Victoria Bekiempis, The Guardian on January 3, 2023

From the long-empty husk of a Manhattan retail chain, new life blooms – in the form of the state of New York’s first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana, which was set to open on Thursday at 4.20pm.

Housing Works Cannabis Company will roll out retail adult-use weed sales at a shop on Broadway and Astor Place in Lower Manhattan – a former Gap outpost – with items such as edibles priced from $20 and flowers from $40, according to NBC New York.

All proceeds from these pot purchases “go back to fund our services and advocacy, which include housing, healthcare, and people living with HIV and chronic illness”, the creative director of the non-profit Housing Works, Elizabeth Koke, told the station.

– Read the entire article at The Guardian.