Courtesy of Green Thumb Industries
By Rod Bacon
For millennia the cannabis plant has been valued for its use for fiber and rope, food and medicine, and for its psychoactive properties for religious and recreational use. It has also gone through periods of being accepted and being banned by countries throughout the world.
Currently, cannabis use is legal in 24 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Guam for recreational use and in 39 states for medical use. It became legal for medical use in New York state in 2016 when the Medical Cannabis Program was implemented and for recreational use in 2021 when the Marihuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) was signed into law.
There are 285 adult-use cannabis dispensaries in New York state that recently surpassed $1 billion in retail sales generating nearly $150 million in tax, fee and fine revenue.
Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, which operates 101 retail locations across 14 U.S. markets under the name RISE Dispensaries, opened its Clifton Park store in 2019. It initially offered only medical marijuana products but expanded to adult-use cannabis in June 2024 following a complete remodeling of the store.
“That was an exciting day, allowing us to meet and celebrate with the community,” said Commercial General Manager for New York Lincoln Campbell. “At RISE we believe cannabis can create more positivity — whether it’s creating jobs, generating tax revenue, or giving back through social impact initiatives.”
The profits from the first day of adult-use sales were donated to HicksStrong, a local nonprofit organization that supports veterans and active-duty service members and their families by providing them with free confidential mental health services.
“RISE offers premium, high-quality cannabis products in a welcoming environment,” said Campbell. “All Green Thumb products available to both medical patients and adult-use customers are held to New York’s medical testing standards established by third-party testing labs.”
Campbell clarified that RISE is not an acronym. “It represents the dispensary’s mission to elevate the cannabis retail experience,” he said.
A wide range of products is offered in the various forms popular with users. These include flower, vape, edibles, pre-rolls, tincture, topical, and concentrates. Green Thumb’s award winning brands such as &Shine vapes, Beboe gummies, Dogwalkers pre-rolls, Doctor Solomon’s , Good Green, incredibles, and RYTHM indoor hand trimmed flower are available.
“We are proud to bring patients and adult use customers safe, high-quality and consistent products across categories,” said Campbell.
The Clifton Park dispensary’s team is comprised of 25 members that include Personal Care Specialists, pharmacists, delivery drivers and more.
Delivery to medical patients is available within a 40-mile radius of the dispensary. They also have exclusive access to roll-through order and pickup services.
To qualify to purchase medical marijuana a person must first visit a health care provider registered with the New York State Department of Health and obtain a form certifying he or she has a medical condition that can be helped by cannabis use. Following that a state-issued registry identification card must be obtained. To get the card proof of identity and New York state residency must be shown.
Qualifying medical conditions include cancer, HIV/AIDS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, spinal cord nerve injury, Epilepsy, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic pain, Neuropathy, Huntington’s Disease, PTSD, and substance use disorder.
All adult use customers need to purchase cannabis through RISE is a state-issued ID and cash or debit card. There is an ATM on site.
Adults 21 and older may possess up to three ounces of cannabis and up to 24 grams of concentrated cannabis outside their home for personal use.
The Clifton Park dispensary gets it product from a state-of-the-art Hudson Valley production facility in Warwick, which was opened in 2023. This facility is at a former medium security prison that housed about 1,000 inmates, many of which were incarcerated for drug offenses.
“The importance of this is not lost on us at RISE and Green Thumb,” said Campbell. “We are committed to reversing the harms done by the War on Drugs.”
In addition to the Clifton Park dispensary Green Thumb operates two other duel-licensed facilities in Syracuse and Henrietta near Rochester and two medical dispensaries in Manhattan and Long Beach.
According to Campbell, at present there are no immediate plans for more RISE dispensaries.
“But we are continually exploring opportunities to expand our footprint,” he said. “Green Thumb remains committed to growing its presence in regions where there is demand for both medical and adult-use cannabis.”
For more information log on to risecannabis.com.
For those who don’t want to use cannabis with a high THC content there is cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical found in the cannabis plant that is non-impairing. It can be used to treat a variety of medical conditions without giving the user a “high” and running the risk of developing physical cravings.
According to Sammy Foda, the founder of Two Strains Cannabis Company, his customers use his products to deal with pain, anxiety, depression, and sleep issues. Foda said he uses it for relaxation and stress relief.
“When I was 15 years old a traumatic event brought about a drastic change in my personality,” Foda writes on his website. “It was at this time that I discovered the relief that alcohol and marijuana could bring me.”
Foda noted that it took him years to work through his issues but on November 4, 2016 he decided he “would not use for just that day.”
“I’ve been sober one day at a time since then,” he noted.
His story is on the company website because Foda believes “many in recovery still have to deal with severe pain, anxiety, depression, and other ailments. Low THC/high CBD cannabis can be an alternative.”
Foda founded Two Strains, which is a dispensary-style hemp flower and cannabinoid retail store, because he felt there were others like him that could be helped by his experience. He started in a kiosk in the Aviation Mall in Queesnsbury on November 1, 2019 and soon moved into a storefront in the mall.
“Our main goal is to help, and we are so grateful to be able to offer a solution to people in our community at the most reasonable prices we can,” he said.
His store, which he says is not officially a medical dispensary, carries a wide variety of CBD options as his primary product line. Because some of his customers suffer from serious medical issues like fibromyalgia and traumatic brain injury there is also a line of hemp-derived Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC products. These are allowed under federal law as long as they have less than 0.3 percent THC on a dry weight basis.
He operates under duel licenses from the Office of Cannabis Management, one a cannabinoid hemp distributor permit and the other a cannabinoid retail license.
Foda gets his product primarily from Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, California, Tennessee, Michigan, North Carolina, and New York state.
For more information go to 2strains.com.