Can Weed Legalization Tame New York City’s Illicit Market? – Cannabis Business Executive

The state is trying to legalize the biggest cannabis black market in the country — but that will only work if they can get the established industry players on board

At five-foot-six with a mess of curly hair and a boyish face, Mo, 29, is not how one might picture the American narco. He doesn’t wear jewelry, sports no designer clothing, and drives a mid-2000’s Jeep Liberty. Mo (“just ‘Mo’”), graduated from a city college in Brooklyn, and despite a run-in with the law (“I guess I sold to the wrong guy”), he went right back to dealing cannabis. “After [the arrest] I had years in the courtroom and no job, so I just started something up,” he says. “I was very, very small time; to the point I would buy an eighth and just sell it.”

Now, more than 10 years into his career, he says he makes upwards of $100,000 a year supplying lower-level dealers around Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan. In the grander scheme, Mo is a nobody, one of countless middle-men keeping small-time dealers in business. This industry has granted Mo — a first-generation immigrant of color — with real financial freedom and the means to help others. “One time a friend needed $2,000 to pay for emergency surgery, and not even his own mom would give him the money,” he tells Rolling Stone. “I paid for it then and there.” Eventually, Mo hopes to get into a more stable business. “I was about to quit,” he says. “My friends and I bought furniture for a store in Williamsburg; a soup shop and a food mart, but once Covid hit things just went left.”  [Read More @ Rolling Stone]