After three years of trying, Vince Lockett finally appears set to open a cannabis dispensary in Fredonia.

Lockett confirmed he has received a dispensary license from the state Office of Cannabis Management. “We’re trying to get open in the next two to four months, we have to do some renovating and stuff,” he said.

He’s planning to put his shop, Cannabliss, in the former strip club on Water Street. Lockett and his business partner, Jessica Serret of Victor, first attempted to acquire space for the dispensary at 65 E. Main Street. The state denied them because the site is less than 500 feet from school-owned property — the ticket shack in front of the Orange Bowl.

There are dozens of dispensaries within easy driving distance of Chautauqua County on the Seneca Nation of Indians’ reservations. Lockett said a draw of his shop will be that customers can fully trust his products.

“The marijuana that’s coming to us is state regulated. It’s all packaged and regulated, there’s no funny stuff,” he said, noting that each package will have a scannable QR code with more information about the product.

Lockett stressed, “I don’t have anything bad to say about the reservation. To each his own. I don’t know what they do or don’t do. But here, you’re going to get what you ask for. We can’t even put it on our shelves if it’s not state regulated. You’re going to be as safe as you can be.”

Lockett originally applied for his license under a program that gave opportunities to people with prior cannabis convictions. That program, CAURD, is one of the numerous things New York is getting sued over in relation to its rollout of legalized cannabis.

However, Lockett got through. “It was a lot of red tape to qualify to get it,” he said. “After three years of crossing Ts and dotting I’s, doing everything we needed to do, we got the license.”