On the Friday before Labor Day, Vireo Health of New York announced it would give a $25 discount on the first purchase and a 10 percent discount on subsequent purchases to any current or retired member of any of the roughly 3,000 unions affiliated with the New York State AFL-CIO.
Fittingly, the discount program begins on Labor Day. Patients need only present a union card or other proof of affiliation to claim their discount. Vireo said Friday on its webpage that this is the first such discount program for union members.
Vireo Health’s workforce is unionized and represented by the 13,000-member Local 338 RWDSU/UFCW. Its president, John Durso, urged union members who need medical marijuana to give their business to unionized dispensaries.
Ari Hoffnung, CEO of Vireo Health of New York, indicated in a news release that the discounts for union members are a promotional effort as much as a sign of support for organized labor.
“This program is designed to make our products more affordable and to educate New York’s union members about the medicinal benefits of marijuana as an alternative to opioids,” said Hoffnung.
The promotion is in keeping with other trends in Vireo’s business model: Support for organized labor and efforts to boost its share of New York’s growing medical marijuana market.
Vireo Health grows and processes cannabis at a 40,000-square-foot facility in Fulton County, upstate New York, and sells extracts at dispensaries in the state capitol of Albany and three other cities.
The company is currently positioned to supply recreational marijuana, should it become legal in New York state, as endorsedin July in a state Department of Health report.
“Certainly, if New York was to allow for adult use of marijuana, the demand for products that we manufacture in our Fulton County facility would increase,” Hoffnung told The Daily Gazette in July 2018. “We are committed to be in Fulton County for many, many years to come.”
