Someone is high on marijuana.
The owner of a Big Apple marijuana dispensary is doing great financially, with his up-and-coming business generating about $7 million in sales last year. It's been about 20 years since he was locked up for selling marijuana.
“What gets me here is that I do the work every day, whether it's sweeping the floor or the sidewalk, mopping something down, picking something up,” said the founder. , CEO of Combad, he told CNBC.
“I just showed up. We don't take days off. I work 365 days a year. I love the hustle. I love the grind. I love the job.”
Marte, who was arrested on drug charges in 2009 and sentenced to seven years in prison, said he expects to earn $12 million this year due to his booming business and boast a monthly income of $800,000. reported.
One of the first companies fully licensed to sell recreational marijuana in Manhattan, and the first on the city's Lower East Side, ConBud sells a variety of ganja at prices ranging from $10 to $700. We sell goods.
In 2021, when New York City legalized adult-use cannabis, cannabis owners had their convictions expunged, and a year later, entrepreneurs and their families with cannabis convictions on their records received recreational cannabis licenses. announced that it could be obtained.
Marte opened his first store at Delancey Street and Orchard Street in October 2023 and has since expanded his growing business into the Bronx.
“I was following the law, but what they asked for was two years of a business with a net profit and no prior convictions,” Marte said, the paper reported.
“Now, how many people are eligible for a cannabis license? Not many.”
In November 2022, 13 licenses were awarded to entrepreneurs with arrest records in the city.
When Marte was released from prison in 2013, he launched a no-frills, prison-style boot camp that initially gained a huge following.
While serving a four-year prison sentence at Greene Correctional Facility in upstate New York, a doctor warned Marte that he would die within a few years if he didn't take better care of himself. Marte lost 70 pounds. Locked up in prison, he eventually turned his workout habit into a business.
Marte started ConBody, opening his own studio in January 2016 at Broome Street and Eldridge Street (the same corner where he had been selling drugs since he was 13 years old) and hiring trainers, maintenance, and customer service. hired a fellow ex-con as an employee. .
The former dealer has complied with its employment practices since opening the cannabis store.
“I still can't believe I work here every day,” a Combad employee told the publication.
“I come here and get an actual tax check for selling marijuana. It's crazy.”
New York's legal cannabis industry is expected to boom in 2025, with state regulators predicting the number of new licensed cannabis stores will more than double, from 275 to more than 625.
In 2024, consumers purchased over $840 million worth of legal ganja. Considering sales from 2023, the legal market has surpassed the milestone of $1 billion in total sales.
The Bureau of Cannabis Control said sales could exceed $1.5 billion this year, or about twice as much as last year, as law enforcement expands efforts to padlock illegal stores. Ta.
“This is a big, big community that will grow with us,” Marte told the outlet.
“I feel blessed.”
