Last summer, William Norgard, a major in the Army Reserve, was taken into custody at the military base where he was stationed in Germany and hauled in front of a unit that investigates soldiers.
Investigators asked him if he knew why he was in trouble as they ordered him to partly undress. They fingerprinted him, swabbed his cheeks for DNA and briefly locked him in a holding cell. He was sent home to New York to await his fate.
The military later reprimanded him in writing for possessing and selling marijuana, which remain illegal under federal law. “Clearly, your actions fell below the standards” of an Army officer, Maj. Gen. Antoinette Gant, the commander of the Military District of Washington, said in a letter.
Except Major Norgard had passed a drug test, and investigators had found no trace of marijuana during a search of his living quarters. Instead, he was being disciplined for being the majority owner of the Daily Green, a state-licensed cannabis dispensary near Times Square, almost 4,000 miles away from the military base in Stuttgart, Germany, where he had been deployed.
It is a unique case of federal anti-marijuana laws being used against a member of the military for participating in a business that a state has authorized to sell cannabis. And it highlights a schism between state and federal law on cannabis that has been a minefield for policymakers and business owners.
The reprimand is a low-level punishment, but the fallout from it could end Major Norgard’s military career and haunt him long after.
“It’s saddening and it’s frightening,” Major Norgard, 48, said in an interview, adding: “Service to the country, that has been part of my personality and who I am and what I believe for almost 20 years now. So to have my character questioned for something that is a legal, licensed, heavily regulated business in the state of New York is beyond frustrating.”
The investigation started last September, shortly after Major Norgard became eligible for a promotion to lieutenant colonel. With the reprimand on his record, he is unlikely to be promoted, his security clearance is in jeopardy and the Army could seek to discharge him dishonorably, Christopher Nuneviller, his lawyer, said. Because he was suspected of committing a crime as a service member and not as a civilian, investigators were required to enter his name into federal criminal databases used to conduct background checks for housing, jobs and loans.
The military follows federal law in barring service members from using, selling or distributing marijuana. However, it has been silent on whether that applies to ownership or investment in cannabis businesses, though some commanders have discouraged participation in the legal industry.
The Military District of Washington declined to comment, and the White House did not respond to questions about the situation.
Major Norgard, who joined the Army Reserves in 2008, said he planned to appeal the decision.
Mr. Nuneviller, a former judge advocate in the Army, said it was unheard-of for the military to punish a service member solely for owning or investing in a legal cannabis business. He said it had been more than a decade since the federal government sought to prosecute anyone just for owning a licensed dispensary.
More than 40 states have legalized marijuana to some extent. But the U.S. government still classifies it as a dangerous illegal drug akin to heroin. Members of the armed services can face steep consequences, even if it is legal for civilians.
Major Norgard and three other veterans filed a lawsuit in 2023 challenging New York’s decision to award the first recreational dispensary licenses exclusively to people who had been convicted of a marijuana-related offense and their parents, spouses and children. He received a license to open a dispensary as part of a settlement of the case.
He said he knew his ownership of a dispensary might attract scrutiny, and he had not tried to hide it. But he believed that he had done nothing wrong because his business was legal in New York, and he was not running it while deployed.
“I was focused on national defense and what I came over there to Germany to do,” he said. “I wasn’t worried at all that the Army would say you are possessing and selling marijuana.”
In December 2024, he and his business partners opened the Daily Green under a different name in a three-story, 10,000 square foot building at the corner of West 48th Street and Seventh Avenue. At the time, they said it was the biggest dispensary in New York City.
Last June, Major Norgard volunteered for his latest assignment, working for the under secretary of defense with the Africa Command, which oversees the deployment of American troops across the continent, including missions against extremism.. But he was sent home six months early in October, after his commanders were alerted to his ownership in the dispensary.
It is unclear how the military found out, but an article that appeared in Crain’s New York Business, a business publication, was included in documents supporting his reprimand. Mr. Nuneviller shared the reprimand with The New York Times. The military also subpoenaed bank statements for the business.
Mr. Nuneviller said the case also raised a question of fairness.
The military is punishing Major Norgard at the same time that President Trump has pushed to relax federal restrictions on marijuana that have hampered medical research and consumer access. Additionally, the secretary of labor, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, holds a security clearance while owning a stake in a cannabis cultivation company.
Former military lawyers said that Major Norgard had a compelling case. Daniel Maurer, a retired lieutenant colonel and judge advocate in the Army, said the officials’ decision not to bring criminal charges suggested that military prosecutors did not believe they could defend the case at trial.
Major Norgard’s defense team could easily prove that the military’s case is meritless, Mr. Maurer said.
Guy Womack, a retired lieutenant colonel and judge advocate in the Marine Corps, said the Army’s decision to discipline Mr. Norgard was inconsistent with the Department of Justice’s hands-off approach to cannabis businesses that comply with state law. That policy has been in place for more than a decade.
“I think that’s disingenuous because the federal government is not stopping any state from having recreational marijuana,” he said. “And if they allow it to be sold to the civilian populace, then it’d be pretty hard for the Army to say, well, we think it’s an illegal business.”
Mr. Womack, who is now a Texas-based defense attorney, said the military had turned a blind eye to service members who owned businesses that were legal in other countries but illegal in the United States, including a client of his who owned brothels in South Korea. So it was ironic to him that the Army scolded Major Norgard.
“Here, the major owned a business that was legal in the United States, and they’re chastising him for owning that business,” he said.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Ashley Southall writes about cannabis legalization in New York.
The post An Army Reservist Owns a Cannabis Dispensary. It May End His Career. appeared first on New York Times.
