Listen to this articleA new adult-use cannabis dispensary is opening in Farmingdale.
The 5,000-square-foot Planet Nugg store at 2043 Wellwood Ave., which officially opens at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 6, is just the third adult-use cannabis retailer to open on Long Island since New York State legalized cannabis and began issuing dispensary licenses more than three years ago.
Planet Nugg is owned by chiropractor Dave Tubens, who also owns Island Regional Chiropractic, a network of six Long Island chiropractic practices founded in 1996.
Tubens, who lives in Dix Hills, says he wants to incorporate education as a pillar of his new business.
“I’m a health professional and there are a lot of ways cannabis can help people, such as dealing with anxiety, sleep disorders and pain management,” he told LIBN. “We’re going to host educational seminars once or twice a week to help educate people on the medicinal benefits of cannabis.”
Tubens also wants Planet Nugg to be known as a responsible participant among the area’s cannabis purveyors.
“We’re going to bring together the community, schools, churches and we’ve had conversations with MADD, to help bring this message out there,” he said. “It’s not just about smoking cannabis, it’s not just about getting high, there’s something for everyone, more importantly we want to help curtail the illegal drug market and create a safe, responsible place to get it.”
Planet Nugg carries a wide variety of cannabis products, including vapes, edibles, flower and more, featuring offerings from New York State suppliers like Dank, Heirloom, Bodega Boyz and Long Island-based Harvest.
Like some of the owners of Long Island’s other two dispensaries, Tubens received his license through the state’s Conditional Adult Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license program, which was designed to give people with prior cannabis convictions the first licenses to open dispensaries as a social justice measure. Being eligible for the CAURD program was the only silver lining to Tubens arrest as a 16-year-old, when on the way to a Rush concert at Nassau Coliseum, police found marijuana in the car in which he was a passenger.
Though Tubens received his dispensary license in Dec. 2021, finding an appropriate location for the business proved to be his biggest challenge. “We were looking for a very long time,” he said.
Finally, Tubens was able to purchase the 11,000-square-foot industrial-zoned building on Wellwood Avenue for $2.9 million in Dec. 2023, where he built Planet Nugg and has two other tenants at the property. He said officials at the Town of Babylon have been instrumental in the process.
“I’d like to thank Supervisor Rich Shaffer for supporting us and sharing in our vision, as well as Rachel Scalfo from the planning department for helping us overcome the hurdles,” Tubens said.