Sitting around a boardroom table at their University Avenue headquarters, members of non-profit organization BLOOM ROC describe their paths into the world of cannabis. They use business-tinged terms like “distribution” and “logistics” as their roles in the legacy market — the era before t he legalization of cannabis in 2021 — words that simply mean they grew and sold weed long before it was legal, and they know it inside and out.   “I really wanted to make sure that women and individuals who look like me, they had a fighting chance if we were going to put equity at the forefront, if we were going to talk about communities that were devastated by prohibition,” said Precious Brown, president of BLOOM.  BLOOM stands for “blossoming leaders of our market.” Those leaders are clear to members of the cannabis incubator: they believe the people most harmed by criminalization deserve to lead the legal marketplace.   When New York passed the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act, it was a historic moment for legal weed. Namely, it opened one of the largest potential markets for weed in the world. In 2025 alone, sales passed $1.6 billion, and that number is only expected to compound over the next decade.   But different from other legal states, New York’s legalization made social equity its prime priority. Instead of handing off the market to well-funded corporations poised to seize the moment, it gave those most harmed by criminalization a first crack at opening dispensaries and cultivating operations. That list included people of color, women and disabled veterans.  Brandi Hester-Harrell, strategic advisor to BLOOM. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE That didn’t always go smoothly. Lawsuits protracted the rollout of the first version of social equity licenses, dubbed Conditional Adult-use Retail Dispensary, or CAURD licenses. Those licenses were specifically aimed at people who were justice-involved. In many cases, the slow rollout left many applicants holding the bag, paying rent on spaces they couldn’t legally open.   Brandi Hester-Harrell, strategic advisor to BLOOM, said dwelling on those facts misses the bigger picture.   “My push in journalism is everyone is quick to talk about how bad New York’s rollout was,” Hester-Harrell said. “I work in multiple states (and) I have not seen one state publicly put social equity at the forefront and try to hold the line. Everybody else weeded it in in a way that it was second.”  Part of BLOOM’s role now is to help guide Social and Economic Equity (SEE) license holders to enter the market. The state set a goal of handing out half of its cannabis license to those applicants. To qualify, a person must be from a marginalized group. Special priority is given to people who make under 80% their area’s median income, live in a community disproportionately affected by criminalization or have a conviction for cannabis prior to the passage of the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act.   The incubator aims to provide resources to minority-owned businesses to help build a brand, network with other business owners and find their position in the market, to name a few.   “It’s already hard to be able to own and operate any business, more or less a cannabis business,” Brown said. “There wasn’t really a how to book in order to come out of prohibition.”  Precious Brown, president of BLOOM. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE To the leadership at BLOOM, it was clear that the legalization of cannabis and the way the law was written provided a unique opportunity to make lasting changes to communities ravaged by criminalization of cannabis.   The profundity of the racial disparity in cannabis arrests, prior to legalization, is clear. For example, a 2019 study from the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College for Criminal Justice tracked cannabis arrests in New York state from 1990 through 2017. It found that for every white person arrested for cannabis possession in upstate New York cities, 12.1 Black people were arrested.   Rochester City Councilmember Michael Patterson represents Rochester’s northeast district. That district is largely Black in population, and Patterson said he’s seen firsthand the effects of years of policing of cannabis (he doesn’t use cannabis himself, describing himself as an “old guy.”) Following a visit to Chicago, Patterson saw how social equity failed to uplift the most criminalized communities in Illinois.  “We met with Chicago (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), which was Black-led,” he said, “and their main point that they just drove home across the board was that, look, we’re getting screwed in Illinois because we didn’t have the inclusive piece built in.”  When Patterson returned home, he had a meeting with Jeff Medford, a legacy market player who later became BLOOM’s director of community engagement. Patterson said Medford is carrying the work of building up a truly local community around the cannabis industry.  Jeffery Medford, director of community engagement for BLOOM. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE. “My job was to kind of show up, give them the spiel and then get the hell out the way and let them do the work,” Patterson said of the early meetings of cannabis leaders in the early hours of legalization.   Medford said the state “dropped the ball” in the first steps of legalization. Farmers were left sitting on pounds of product with nowhere to sell it and dispensaries were left paying for retail space they couldn’t sell from, to name the most glaring issues.  He added that BLOOM has a unique opportunity to consistently show up for the local industry.   ” BLOOM ROC is never a one-and-done thing,” Medford said.  “We still communicate with those people who have come through our program. They can always call us and get information. We’re always making referrals and just trying to connect them with other good business sources as well. I really love that about what we do.”  Patterson views the role of the state, and the social equity positioning of the law, as a potential form of reparations. But there’s a long way to get to that goal, and it comes in the form of money. He sees the need for the state to help financially support legacy market players in entering the legal market.   Chad Anderson, vice president of BLOOM. PHOTO BY MAX SCHULTE “Honestly, only New York State could fuck up drug sales,” Patterson said. “Only New York could fuck up drug dealing. Really, again, you didn’t create the market. We did. They all know how to sell weed.”  The next few years for BLOOM, as the market continues to become more established, will be critical. A key piece missing is onsite consumption, which would allow smokers’ lounges and similar establishments to open. The group continues to push the state to move forward on such provisions.  But despite the intricacies of law and specific goals, its overarching goal remains the same: give the industry to the people who built it long before lawmakers signed off on it.   “It’s not just about Black and brown people,” Brown said. “It’s about service, disabled veterans, women, minorities, anyone living in a community devastated by prohibition from 1981 to 2021 as well as farmers, right? We want to make sure that we’re all encompassing and being a resource to everyone.” bloomroc.org  Gino Fanelli is an investigative reporter for WXXI News. You can reach him at [email protected]. The post BLOOM ROC taps legacy market to lead cannabis legalization  appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture.. ...read more read less