BEHIND THE BRAND
Eladio Guzmán spent two years in jail for selling drugs, missing the birth of his first child. Cannabis is part of his tumultuous past, but a year after New York legalized possession and use of marijuana, it could be his future. He’s eager to open a recreational dispensary.
“I did time, we suffered,” said the 44-year-old union steamfitter, sitting beside his wife at the dining table of his Long Island home. “This is an opportunity for me to take the negative that I did and actually help me do something positive.”
His wife, Melissa Guzmán, also experienced the war on drugs: Several relatives arrested. An uncle who spent a decade in jail. His eventual deportation to the Dominican Republic. Now, as New York develops regulations for how a person or business can apply for a dispensary license, the Guzmáns are studying the industry as they wait for an application to open a cannabis shop in nearby Queens.
They often talk about the look, size and design of their future store, which they’ve decided to call Fumaoo.