Coss Marte knows this firsthand. At 39, he's running Conbud, a legal cannabis business pulling in around $800,000 a month. But rewind 16 years.

When Coss Marte left prison in 2013, he had just $40 in his pocket and a dream born in a 6x9-foot cell.

Coss Marte’s CONBODY Combined Fitness With Social Justice. Now He’s Adding Legal Cannabis. Marte has been a trailblazer among the formerly incarcerated, and made the workout world more diverse ...

Coss Marte, the founder and CEO of Conbud, is set to generate a whopping $12 million from his legal cannabis venture this year.

In 2023, Coss Marte opened the first adult-use cannabis dispensary on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — the same neighborhood where he once sold drugs illegally.

In 2023, Coss Marte opened the first adult-use cannabis dispensary on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — the same neighborhood where he once sold drugs illegally.