MILLERTON — Wassaic-based cannabis grower Douglas Broughton plans to open a dispensary this spring in the former Demitasse storefront on Main Street.
Broughton signed a lease for the 32 Main St. storefront on Dec. 1 and plans to reopen the space as the Black Rabbit Farms cannabis dispensary following modest renovations. The work, he said, will include cosmetic updates and the installation of freestanding, custom-made display cabinets.
“We hope to be open in March,” Broughton said.
Cannabis farmer Douglas Broughton, left, and Glenn Hilliard of Newtown, Connecticut, label plastic containers filled with cannabis at Broughton’s home in Wassaic on Friday, Dec. 19. Photo by Nathan Miller
Broughton has been growing cannabis since 1995 and has worked in the legal medical and recreational cannabis industries since their inception, when states across the U.S. began easing prohibitions on the drug..He said quality is paramount to him, and he plans to maintain that commitment in his new dispensary.
“There’s going to be probably 10 to 20 different products for sale at any one time,” Broughton said, emphasizing a desire to exclusively stock locally-produced cannabis from micro-growers. “I’m trying to get the small farm, the micro — which is the small license people — up and running and trying to help them out how to grow so I can feature their cannabis.”
Broughton has not assembled a complete list of participating growers yet, but his own Black Rabbit Farms cannabis will be among the dispensary’s selection. He grows cannabis in a greenhouse at his Wassaic home, using artificial light and a hands-on approach.
That hands-on approach results in lower yields, but Broughton said he values quality over quantity. His wife, Maria Laura Quintero, said he has even sacrificed entire harvests when problems arose.
Glass jars of Broughton’s “Beef and Broccoli” strain of cannabis. He plans to offer his homegrown cannabis and products from other local micro-growers.Photo by Nathan Miller
“He has wiped out entire crops because he saw a mite,” Quintero said. “He won’t give that to the public. He would prefer to kill the whole thing and start all over.”
By choosing an existing retail space in the Village of Millerton, Broughton was not required to go through lengthy approval processes before municipal boards.
The location is ideal, he said, though he acknowledged parking is limited and plans to warn customers on the dispensary’s website. “Parking, unfortunately, is going to be about a block walk either way,” Broughton said. “You’re going to have to park at the rail trail and walk up, or go park above the church and walk down. It’s a nice walk — three minutes, you’re there.”
For customers who prefer not to walk, Black Rabbit Farm will offer delivery within an Office of Cannabis Management-approved radius of the storefront. “It’ll be probably, I don’t know, 10 miles as the crow flies,” Broughton said.
Broughton said he wants the dispensary to fit in with downtown Millerton. “The motif is going to blend right in,” he said. “It’s not going to be this big neon pot leaf — like a McDonald’s thing.”
Glenn Hilliard smooths the label on a 3.5 gram container of Black Rabbit Farms' "Beef and Broccoli" strain of cannabis on Friday, Dec. 19. The plastic packages were destined for dispensaries in Westchester and Rockland county where they will be sold.Photo by Nathan Miller
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