ROCHESTER, NY (WROC) — The owner of an unlicensed cannabis dispensary in Canandaigua is ordered to pay millions of dollars.
George West was the owner of Jaydega 7.0 on Main Street. The Attorney General’s Office has fined him $9.5 million for selling cannabis without a license and ignoring a notice to stop operating.
“It’s 10,000 dollars a day civil penalty for any day you sell without a license and 20k a day for every day you sell after you get the notice and say you’ve got to stop selling,” said attorney Eugene Welch. “The law has some teeth in it that you’ve got to be registered and licensed and do it the right way.”
The Attorney General’s Office said investigators were made aware that West sold cannabis without a license since at least September 2022. The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) inspected the dispensary and seized over 200 pounds of cannabis and products.
West was sent a notice to stop operating and asked for an accounting and full financial disclosure of the dispensary’s operations. The AG’s Office says West refused to provide the information and continued to sell. This ended when a court order shut down the business.
According to investigators, West recorded over $2.4 million in sales revenue from June 2022 through October 2023.
