Last verified: March 2026

Queens

Queens brings the borough's famous diversity to the cannabis market. Community favorites serve neighborhoods from Astoria to Jamaica, and the borough has become a launch pad for celebrity cannabis brands.

• Terp Bros (Astoria) — A community favorite that hosted Carmelo Anthony's STAYME7O brand launch in April 2025. Known for its knowledgeable staff and curated selection.
• Curaleaf Forest Hills — One of the largest Registered Organization locations in the borough, offering both medical and adult-use cannabis.
• The Botanist Queens — Acreage Holdings' Queens location, part of their statewide dispensary network.

The Bronx

The Bronx has growing representation in the legal cannabis market, with new dispensaries opening to serve a borough that was disproportionately impacted by cannabis enforcement under prior law.

• Statis Cannabis — The borough's first licensed adult-use dispensary, marking a milestone for Bronx cannabis access.
• Verilife Bronx — PharmaCann's Bronx location, one of the first ROs to serve the borough with both medical and adult-use products.

Staten Island

Staten Island has been slower to embrace legal cannabis, reflecting the borough's more conservative political landscape. However, licensed dispensaries are beginning to establish a presence, and the 4% local tax revenue is becoming an incentive for municipalities that initially opted out.

The Equity Connection

The outer boroughs hold particular significance for New York's social equity program. These communities — particularly the Bronx and parts of Queens — bore the heaviest burden of cannabis enforcement. Under the old system, 94% of NYPD marijuana arrests targeted Black or Hispanic New Yorkers. The CAURD program's emphasis on justice-involved entrepreneurs was designed to direct economic opportunity back to these neighborhoods.

Seeing licensed dispensaries open in the same communities that suffered the most from prohibition represents a tangible, if incomplete, form of restorative justice.