ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A local dispensary is fighting with the state to open its doors. Beau Clinton and Bob Livecchi, co-owners of ROC Dispensary and Hydroponics, were among the first 52 businesses in New York to get a license in 2022.

Now, they’re trying to cash in on the state’s promise to open a store, but they say the state isn’t following through. They got word from the Office of Cannabis Management that they actually aren’t approved to open.

“I feel very frustrated. It seems like months and months of spending money and they’re not allowing you to make,” said Bob Livecchi, co-owner of ROC Dispensary.

Clinton and Livecchi say the whole reason they got into the cannabis industry two years ago was to open a storefront. When it came time to apply for a microbusiness license to do just that, they were careful and complied with everything the OCM wanted.

During the application period, their original storefront fell through. The two immediately got a new one, but when they tried to update their application, they were told they would have to wait for the OCM to put a process in place to add a new location.

The two say they’ve spent the past month calling the OCM, the governor’s office, and local representatives. With a license in hand, cannabis to sell, and a shop they’re paying rent for, the two are begging anyone to help them open the doors.

“So many people that need to be licensed and their businesses open just to create the revenue for the towns in the States. You know, there’s so much tax money and everything for everybody,” said Clinton.

Clinton and Livecchi say they’re not the only ones stuck in the OCM’s administrative problems. News10NBC has reported over and over on the slow rollout, especially here in the Finger Lakes.

“Everybody needs help, all of us cultivators and dispensaries need help from all of these people that promised us to open,” said Beau Clinton, co-owner of ROC Dispensary.

News10NBC reached out to the OCM asking about their case and was told the office is looking into it. Days later, the office had taken ROC Dispensary off the OCM’s online map of dispensaries, even though it had been there before. The address 324 Jefferson had been marked for “To Top Tier LLC” instead.

The landlord of that property told News10NBC it was another cannabis business that he was going to rent the space out to, but that fell through last winter and they both amicably ended that lease. The landlord said ROC Dispensary has had control of this property for months.

Clinton and Livecchi say they feel like they’re being punished when they did nothing wrong. When News10NBC asked the OCM about the change in that map, they did not respond.

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