Is New York’s cannabis business really flying high?

“There’s a million different ways to get institutional funding, but you can’t get any of those for cannabis because of federal law,” he says. 

Despite the headwinds, Ambrosino has managed to grow his business and now employs around 80 people, and is hopeful that the increased licences for legal shops in New York will mean more sales opportunities down the line. 

Vlad Bautista, the Happy Munkey co-founder, roughly estimates that he spends 40% of his time complying with various regulations, and, in particular, he questions some of the rules around advertising and tax law. 

“If you own a cannabis business, you have much stricter advertising regulations than companies selling alcohol, cigarettes or gambling,” he says. “You’re stuck in the stone age, handing out flyers on the street.”

A buzz ran through the industry in December of last year, when President Trump signed an executive order which directed officials to accelerate efforts to reclassify marijuana to a less stringent category.