Freeing the plant: East Village shop ushers in the era of legal marijuana sales in New York

New York City’s very first legal marijuana dispensary was officially christened in the East Village on Dec. 29 with its first sale.

Chris Alexander, the executive director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) made the first sale, buying $96 of marijuana products at 750 Broadway, a shop opened and operated by Housing Works, a non-profit that fights homelessness and HIV.