BY SAMANTHA CHRISTMANN
March 28, 2024
Joel Giambra
Sharon Cantillon/News file photo
Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra has been a vocal proponent of cannabis for a long time.
“I think the headline was ‘Giambra wants to legalize drugs’ or something like that. Twenty years ago, that was like dropping a bomb on the Buffalo Zoo,” Giambra said. “We took some criticism. A lot of criticism.”
Now, public opinion – and New York State law – have come around to his way of thinking, and Giambra is co-owner of a new state-licensed recreational cannabis dispensary called Honey at 2981 Delaware Ave. in Kenmore with business partner Darcell Thomas.
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Thomas’ past cannabis conviction in New York State made the pair eligible for the Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary program, which granted dispensary licenses to justice-involved people as an attempt to redress communities harmed by the war on drugs.
“I have been publicly fighting prohibition of cannabis and in prohibition in general. As a student of history, it’s obvious that any attempts at prohibition in the past have
