After pot conviction, NY couple plans for legal dispensary

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Eladio Guzmán spent two years in jail for selling drugs, missing the birth of his first child. Cannabis is part of his tumultuous past, but a year after New York legalized possession and use of marijuana, it could be his future. He’s eager to open a recreational dispensary.

“I did time, we suffered,” said the 44-year-old union steamfitter, sitting beside his wife at the dining table of his Long Island home. “This is an opportunity for me to take the negative that I did and actually help me do something positive.”

His wife Melissa Guzmán also experienced the war on drugs: Several relatives arrested. An uncle who spent a decade in jail. His eventual deportation to the Dominican Republic. Now, as New York develops regulations for how a person or business can apply for a dispensary license, the Guzmáns are studying the industry as they wait for an application to open a cannabis shop in nearby Queens.

They often talk about the look, size and design of their future store, which they’ve decided to call “Fumaoo.”

They don’t expect to get one of the first 100 retail cannabis licenses the state plans to reserve for people with marijuana-related convictions. That’s because the Guzmáns don’t meet some of the requirements, like having at least a 10% ownership interest in a business that ran a net profit for two years. [Read More @ APnews.com]