Illegal marijuana shops in NYC are out of control due to lax enforcement

Weak laws and meager fines have turned the closure of illegal marijuana stores in the Big Apple into nothing more than an endless game of hitting the mole.

According to the NYPD, there are no laws in the books penalizing unlicensed vendors for displaying twisted joints and other cannabis products.

Instead, police have relied on disorderly conduct laws, but the process requires a tedious legal process that can drag on for months before businesses can be ordered to shut down.

“It seems like it would be easy for the city to shut down stores that illegally sell unregulated cannabis, but under current law, that really isn’t the case,” said council member Gail Brewer (D-Manhattan), whose employees accidentally visited the 61 Upper West Side. smoke shops last December and found that 26 of them were illegally transporting marijuana products.

City Sheriff Anthony Miranda and the NYPD leadership testified at a City Council hearing last month that there are about 1,400 illegal cannabis shops in the city. Authorities routinely issue meager $250 fines in addition to confiscating illegal goods, but most stores reopen almost immediately.

State legislators are seeking to increase enforcement through new laws and end unlicensed pharmacies.

State Senator Liz Kruger (D-Manhattan), author of the 2021 law legalizing recreational cannabis use in New York City, introduced a bill last month to expand the powers of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management and the Department of Taxation and Finance. they can better enforce licensing. She is working with Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office to help finalize the wording before it is passed on to other lawmakers.

This is similar to the previous bill prepared by Krueger, which stalled last year. The law would also allow both government agencies to confiscate marijuana from illegal smokers and confiscate shop registration certificates in connection with the sale of “illegal marijuana.”