Christmas Trees Of Weed: An NYC Legal Marijuana Holiday Gift Guide

NEW YORK CITY — Happy Holidaze, New York City — marijuana is officially off Santa's and the state's naughty lists.

Legal recreational cannabis dispensaries are open for the full Christmas and holiday season for the first time in New York's history.

At least 37 adult-use dispensaries will be open before the New Year, with 15 stores or delivery services in New York City's confines, according to the Office of Cannabis Management.

"This is going to be a busy and exciting month for New York cannabis as over a dozen licensees finally get the chance to open their doors for business," said Chris Alexander, the office's executive director, in a statement.

What this means is New Yorkers can buy their best bud a gift of green, legally.

But before city dwellers go out and deck the halls with balls of ganja, there are a few things to know lest the season become a big buzzkill.

What's going on with legal weed?

(Big inhale.)

Adult-use recreational cannabis has been legal in New York since 2021, but legal dispensaries have only been open since Dec. 29, 2022.

New Yorkers, of course, have seen hundreds of unlicensed pot shops open up in the meantime.

Those illegal pot shops' landlords, not customers, have faced crackdowns. But officials strongly discourage buying from those storefronts, given they sell unregulated cannabis products of dubious quality.

The pace of legal dispensaries openings was temporarily stalled by a legal dispute over licenses. But a settlement reached in late November has allowed them to restart.

State officials issued 463 provisional licenses for sales, but stress that those are not guarantees of actual businesses blossoming.

Where are legal dispensaries?

So far, there aren't many legal dispensaries in New York City, but officials say that's likely to change in the coming months.

New Yorkers can, so long as they're 21 or over, walk into 13 stores in the city to buy legal weed. Those can be found online here, or in this map. (Map is current as of Monday, Dec. 18.)

And these are two businesses that offer deliveries:

• The Cannabis Place — Queens
• Half Island Flavors — Bronx

For prospective pot buyers who see a storefront and aren't sure whether it's legit, the Office of Cannabis Management has a dispensary verification tool that's to be posted on their windows.

Can I buy cannabis as a gift?

Yes, but be careful.

Here's what a flyer from the Office of Cannabis Management states: "It is legal to share cannabis within the possession limits (or give it away) to someone 21 or older. But it is illegal to trade, barter, or 'gift' cannabis to someone in exchange for something else. This

includes 'gifting' cannabis while selling something else (like a t-shirt or a sticker)."

If that answer left potential gift givers dazed and confused, let officials with the Office of Cannabis Management reaffirmed to Patch that gifting recreational cannabis is OK.

Sharing or giving recreational cannabis is legal so long as the recipient is 21 or over and there is absolutely no exchange of a service or commodity, officials said.

Basically, it has to be given away, no strings attached. Just like the spirit of Christmas and other holiday cheer.

What kind of weed should I buy?

Patch reporters don't engage in opinion.

But other New Yorkers have voted with their wallets in legal shops.

"Gas Face" grabbed the number one slop in the top 50 selling strains of cannabis list from the Office of Cannabis Management, first published by Politico.

Blueberry Muffin, Sour Diesel, Runtz and Hash Burger rounded out the list's top five.