Whitestone’s first licensed cannabis dispensary will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony in early August to commemorate its grand opening.
Long-time local business owner Jose Verdaguer will open Ignyte — located at 145-18 14th Ave. — with day-long festivities, including giveaways, educational sessions on cannabis-based products, free ice cream, music and cocktails provided by The Stonebridge, a local bar in the Whitestone community.
Verdaguer said he took a leap of faith in 2022 when he converted his original business — NYC Print and Design — into a space for his legal cannabis dispensary. Although the print shop closed in 2022, he continued to pay rent, eager to pursue his dream of opening a dispensary in his community.
He faced setbacks after he applied in 2022 for a CAURD license with the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The CAURD license program prioritizes people with drug-related convictions seeking a permit to open a legal retail dispensary. At the time, he said he was denied a license as OCM faced ongoing lawsuits, which froze the approval of CAURD licensing for applicants.
“As soon as the application started and everything became legal, I was one of the first few people to apply,” Verdaguer told QNS. “I felt I was deserving of it because I’ve had several run-ins in the past with the authorities and I’ve been dabbling in the cannabis industry for several years. I’m a pioneer in this game. I’m also a cultivator, I know a lot about this stuff, so I felt I should have applied.”
Verdaguer reapplied in 2023 for an adult-use retail dispensary license, and in April 2024, he received the green light to open Ignyte.
“Everybody knows me here. I’m well known — they know me for both things, for the printing and the cannabis,” he said.
For years Verdaguer has amassed knowledge of the cannabis industry and has cultivated cannabis through his endeavors and collaborations with growers from California.
Verdaguer emphasized that he wanted to destigmatize the usage of cannabis and showcase its medicinal benefits to residents who are skeptical of the dispensary.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. I don’t do it just because I want to get high. I do it because I use it for medicine,” he said. “I have psoriatic arthritis, so I rub [THC-infused coconut oil] on my skin instead of putting steroids in my body. It helps me tremendously with my inflammation.”
Verdaguer said even his mother, who is 78, takes THC and CBD drops for fibrosis in her lungs and his niece uses cannabis products to manage her lupus.
“I really want to educate people on the differences because when you come to my dispensary, you’re going to come here and you’re going to see a different approach to cannabis,” he said.
Product offerings will include tinctures, oral ingesters, jellies and vegan options, as well as combustible cannabis.
“There’s a beneficial way of using it by ingesting it, there’s things for anxiety there’s things for depression, for a whole bunch of different options out there,” Verdaguer said.
He added that the dispensary will host weekly classes for residents to learn about the different forms of cannabis and their holistic properties.
