After serving roughly two and a half years as the cannabis program manager in Portland, Ore.’s, Office of Community & Civic Life, Dasheeda Dawson has returned to her home state—and home city—to serve as the director of Cannabis NYC, New York City’s initiative aimed at supporting the burgeoning adult-use cannabis industry.
Housed within the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS), Cannabis NYC will work to support the creation of jobs, small businesses and economic opportunity through strategic outreach, public engagement, business services and advocacy efforts—all while trying to address the harms of the war on drugs.
Here, Dawson, who has more than a decade of development, strategic management and brand marketing experience, shares more about the transition to her new role and her predictions for New York’s forthcoming adult-use market.
Melissa Schiller: How does New York’s industry compare to Portland’s?
Dasheeda Dawson: I was really shocked when I was in Portland at the canna-phobia that still exists, even in a mature market. On the surface, while Portland has a more mature market, a number of legacy consumers—consumers who are shopping the unregulated market—[exist] in New York City. It’s so overwhelming, so it definitely feels more empowering as a result. I think that is the biggest difference in terms of the actual consumer market: There are probably more people in New York City who are more willing to publicly stand up for consumer rights and protections.
MS: And it seems like New York has also been prioritizing social equity initiatives.
DD: I think it has to. It’s a state that’s arrested more people than any other state for cannabis possession, and New York City was the arrest capital for that. So, we have some government accountability. I think the administration in the city completely understands, and with the way the [Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act] is written, I think social equity is baked into cannabis and Cannabis NYC.
MS: What are your overall predictions for New York’s adult-use market as far as market rollout, evolving regulations, product trends, consumer trends, etc.?
DD: It’s consumers who are going to dictate whether the legal market is providing what they need. I think the mature markets have made the mistake of creating frameworks that are good for the government, that are good for business, but are not good for the community. So, we’ll work on creating a framework that is centered [on] community. And I think that’s centered on the mission of the administration and the social equity blueprint for New York City.
MS: What kind of business support will Cannabis NYC provide to entrepreneurs in New York City’s cannabis market?
DD: We’re going to be leaning in very heavily on what SBS already has in place, and I think the brilliance of Cannabis NYC is that it’s actually in the Small Business Services department. That in and of itself means that we’ll tackle a lot of the initial challenges, like business planning, being able to get some of the fundamentals, whether it’s accounting or contract management, with wraparound services that are already provided through the Department of Business Services and SBS.
Editor’s note: This interview has been edited for style, length and clarity. Read the full conversation here.
