DRYDEN — Greater Cortland area residents will soon be able to buy legal marijuana without having to drive to Syracuse, Union Springs, Binghamton or Ithaca. They can go do Dryden.
Monday will be the first day of business for Dryden Dispensary and Smoke Shop at 2207 Dryden Road. The business formerly housed Back to Basics, which sold bulk foods.
The town of Dryden granted Chris Diemand a permit to open the business. He said the business would “appeal to mainstream America,” with a sales staff he said would radiate “warm, inviting, positive energy.”
He said the sales staff would help to connect customers with products that target pain-relief, sleep problems and anxiety sufferers, while educating them about products, like “edibles,” with which they might have little or no experience.
“We’re not a hippie shop,” he said.
The business will be managed by Kevin Cossaboon, who Diemand called friend who managed the Sugar Mountain smoke shop Diemand owns in Binghamton. Also involved in running the business will be Geneva Riley, whose resume on the LinkedIn site says she spent nearly 3 ½ years as a professional cannabis chef in Denver for a business called “Dine with Roilty.” Before that, she cites 14 months experience as front of house manager for a Denver culinary school, and two years experience as a line chef for a Denver-area Italian restaurant.
Diemand said he began pursuing a license from the state about three years ago, and overcame what he referred to as “red tape, after red tape, after red tape.”
Dryden Dispensary will have a “drive-through” window like fast-food restaurants do, once Dryden grants permission for the business to operate with a window where customers can pick up orders. Diemand estimated the window could be operational in June.
In addition to two licensed dispensaries in Ithaca, New York has granted licenses to businesses in the state’s Southern Tier communities of Binghamton, Johnson City, Oneonta and Vestal. In Onondaga County, the state has granted licenses to businesses in Liverpool, Clay and two in Syracuse. There also is a licensed dispensary in the village of Seneca Falls.
In total, New York had granted licenses to 117 businesses to legally sell weed. There are no licensed dispensaries to date in Cortland, Tioga or Chenango counties, although LakeHouse Cannabis at the Riverside Plaza in Cortland awaits a license.
New York Legalized the sale of adult-use cannabis on March 31, 2021, making it legal for people 21 or older to purchase up to small amounts of the product for medical or recreational use.
