Pound Ridge lawyer wants Purple Plains' license revoked

By THANE GRAUEL

A local attorney has renewed his effort to have the license for a cannabis retailer revoked.

John Nathan on Oct. 5 petitioned the state’s Cannabis Control Board to declare that the group running Purple Plains on Westchester Avenue did not meet the criteria for the license it was granted in April 2024.

Nathan said that the individual who owns 51% of SMMB Inc. does not actually have “sole control” as required by state rules and by a recent state ruling regarding another business. Nathan said that under SMMB’s agreement, if that owner, Mark Buzzetto, wants to sell his shares, he is required to first offer them to his girlfriend, Sophia Mortell, who owns 49% of the business.

In August, regulators from the state’s Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board ruled in a case involving another dispensary that “the licensee did not maintain true, day-to-day control of the business, a core requirement of the State’s equity program.” Nathan cited that ruling in his petition.

“The evidence shows that SMMB was not entitled to get a license,” Nathan told The Recorder.

Buzzetto could not be reached this week. A worker at Purple Plains said he was on his honeymoon.

Nathan obtained the ownership records through Freedom of Information Law requests. 

He also has an appeal pending in an open-government suit in which he alleges Pound Ridge officials several years ago decided, without giving the public a chance to weigh in, to not opt out of state legislation allowing cannabis dispensaries in town. 

Priority license

Purple Plains opened in April 2024. Its license was obtained under a program that gives priority to those who meet two conditions: having a prior conviction for a marijuana offense, and that person with the prior conviction owning 51% of the business.

Buzzetto applied under the program. He told Bedford & New Canaan Magazine in a December 2025 article that he had been arrested outside a Mets game with marijuana cigarettes when he was 18.

In February, the Pound Ridge Town Board held a hearing about whether to weigh in on the renewal of Purple Plains’ license. Nathan urged the members not to endorse the renewal, but members noted that the business had operated without any problems. No members of the public submitted written comments to the town. 

‘Positive experiences’

Town Supervisor Kevin Hansan said at the time he didn’t expect the Town Board to oppose the relicensing. He said the town has had “nothing but positive experiences” with the business since it opened.

The dispensary has generated significant income for the town under a tax-sharing program. Officials estimated the 2025 total at around $150,000.

Nathan on Wednesday said he had not heard anything from the state agency regarding his petition other than what appeared to be an automatic email reply.