A Potsdam resident just rolled out another option for North Country-ers looking to go green — and not in the environmental way.
The Firehaus dispensary opened its doors to avid cannabis smokers and curious chiefers in December. It is the second reefer retailer to hit town, the first being The Highest Peak, a play on the 46 Adirondack High Peaks. The Firehaus also plays on regional pride; its theme is based on the mountain range’s many fire towers.
Brian Mandell, who was born in Lake George, is the man behind the Mary Jane. He said in the almost two months The Firehaus has been open, business has been bustling.
The store has even attracted customers from some of the four local universities. “We want students, and we want a safe space to go,” said Mandell, noting that regulations prevent him from advertising at the colleges. “We just want them to have safe, tested cannabis.”
Weed was Mandell’s hobby before he decided to turn it into a career. “I’ve been a user for a long time,” he said. “Before I started, I visited dispensaries in every legal state.”
The store was originally set to open at the former site of Olympia Sports along Route 11 in August. But, legal battles in the New York State Supreme Court enacted a moratorium period, delaying the opening of licensed dispensaries statewide.
Gus Talon, a junior at St. Lawrence, made the trip to The Firehaus last month. “There is a really good selection and the staff was really helpful,” he said. “But it was very expensive.”
The Firehaus is the first dispensary to be subsidized by the New York Cannabis Social Equity Investment Fund. The fund is designed to provide financial aid and other business resources for start-up dispensaries that have been awarded Conditional Adult-Use Regional Dispensary licenses through the Office of Cannabis Management.
Individuals that apply for CAURD licenses have to be justice inclined, meaning they faced criminal marijuana charges or spent time in jail prior to its legalization in New York. They also have to own a business that the state believes has a significant presence.
The state is using the program to backtrack on laws that, in hindsight, unfairly charged and imprisoned New Yorkers for marijuana usage. Mandell himself has faced marijuana charges in the past and so have the 15 employees that he hired to staff the shop. He also ran a successful shoe-reselling business.
Mandell is grateful for the CAURD license, which he credits his business’s start to. “There have definitely been some hiccups, but it’s helped me out a ton,” he said. “I wouldn’t be open without it, I would be six months behind where I am now.”
Since 2021, when New York legalized recreational marijuana, the state has welcomed 63 adultuse dispensaries, with The Firehaus being the latest.