Legal marijuana sales bring $1.2M to Babylon, funding drug treatment and education

LONG ISLAND - Strain Stars in East Farmingdale is one of the highest-grossing marijuana dispensaries in New York State. 

"On a monthly basis we're earning about $1.7 or $1.8 million, which allows us to give back," said Tushar Mallick. 

They’ve given back, along with Happy Days, another dispensary just down the road. Both opened about a year ago and since then the Town of Babylon has collected nearly $1.2 million from sales.

"Now I've seen the money generated and figured out that we could do very positive things with that tax money," said Supervisor Rich Schaffer of the Town of Babylon. 

Taxes collected from sales go into the Cannabis Revenue Fund. 4% of that money stays in the community where the store is located and gets distributed to the local government. 

25% goes to the county and 75% goes to the town, city or village within the county. In this case, a portion of the money will go toward a second location of the town’s drug treatment center, along with education. 

Two more stores are set to open in the Town of Babylon within the next several weeks. Other stores may eventually open in Brookhaven, Riverhead, and Southampton, the three other towns on Long Island that have opted-in to recreational cannabis sales.

Dr. Jeffrey Reynolds, of the Family & Children’s Association, says revenue should continue to fund treatment and prevention programs if other towns open shops. 

"None of us wanted cannabis legalization," he said. "We all worried about the impact it would have on communities, but Babylon is taking the lead and making sure that dollars that come from cannabis legalization are reprogrammed into services that, quite frankly, minimize the potential impact on communities."

So far no municipalities in Nassau County have opted in to recreational marijuana sales.