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In a renewed push to snuff out New York City’s thriving illegal weed market, Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan’s top prosecutor announced Tuesday that they would go after landlords who allow illicit shops to operate.
On the same day, a DailyMail.com photographer snapped officers from the Office of Cannabis Management raiding an illegally operating store in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan.
In total, four stores were raided Tuesday, were accused of selling marijuana to minors in addition to operating without a license.
A complaint accused the ‘dispensary,’ Saint Mark’s Convenience and Smoke Shop, of selling marijuana to minors on three separate occasions since December. The sales were observed by an undercover NYPD officer.
Since cannabis legalization in 2021, the state has issued 66 licenses. Only two shops have opened, but the rate of openings is expected to accelerate in the coming months. There are thought to be 1,400 illegal stores in the Big Apple.
A store worker told DailyMail.com that the police raided the store and took cigarettes and ‘weed’
The store operated with a large neon sign advertising that it was a cannabis dispensary even though it did not have a license
An unnamed store worker told DailyMail.com after the raid: ‘We just got raided for cigarettes, weed. A fine, a $20,000 fine. Now we got to get a license, our weed license.’
Officials have said that unlicensed stores are a target for robberies as they keep large amounts of cash on hand.
The shop was operating with a large neon sign advertising that it was a cannabis dispensary even though it did not have a license. The illegally operating shops were shuttered under the city’s nuisance and abatement law.
The employee went on to say that the store was working towards getting the license when the raid occurred and that it was struggling to afford the cost of applying. It’s estimated that the total cost of applying is around $200,000.
The state legalized recreational marijuana use in March 2021 and authorized the Office of Cannabis Management to begin establishing a legal marketplace. Most of the shops are to be operated by people of color who had been incarcerated by prohibitionist laws.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has a reputation for being soft on crime, sent more than 400 letters on Tuesday to illegal weed stores that are operating uninhibited telling them that his office is prepared to launch civil lawsuits to begin evictions.
In the letter, Bragg wrote in part: ‘This letter is to inform you that the Manhattan’s District Attorney’s Office is prepared to use our civil authority … to require owners and landlords to commence eviction proceedings of commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal trade or business, and to take over such eviction proceedings if necessary.’
While at Tuesday’s press conference, Bragg said: ‘It is time for the operation of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries to end. They’ve been put on notice.’
At the same event, Mayor Adams warned that marijuana sold at illegal stores can often be laced with other drugs including fentanyl. While Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine stressed that fines have not been working.
When the state legalized recreational marijuana two years ago, ‘many people took it that you can just open up a location any way you want,’ Adams said.
The NYPD and the Office of Cannabis Management during its raid on Tuesday
The illegally operating shops were shuttered under the city’s nuisance and abatement law
Since cannabis legalization in 2021, the state has issued 66 licenses. Only two shops have opened
The state legalized recreational marijuana use in March 2021 and authorized the Office of Cannabis Management to begin establishing a legal marketplace
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has a reputation for being soft on crime, sent more than 400 letters on Tuesday to illegal weed stores that are operating uninhibited telling them that his office is prepared to launch civil lawsuits to evict them
At Tuesday’s press conference, Bragg said: ‘It is time for the operation of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries to end. They’ve been put on notice’
Unauthorized pot shops have cropped up in droves, operating out in the open — and offering cheaper prices than the legal stores, where the products are highly taxed.
The number of illegal shops across New York’s five boroughs could exceed 1,400, according to some estimates.
The illicit stores are cashing in on a lucrative market that the mayor says could reach $1.3 billion, potentially generating $40 million in yearly tax revenues for the city — as long as they are not undercut by illegal offerings.
‘Marijuana legalization in New York came with rules, and those rules must be respected,’ Bragg said. ‘Instead of respect for the law, we have seen … the proliferation of storefronts across New York City selling unlicensed, unregulated, untaxed cannabis products.’
An unnamed store worker told DailyMail.com after the raid: ‘We just got raided for cigarettes, weed. A fine, a $20,000 fine’
When the state legalized recreational marijuana two years ago, ‘many people took it that you can just open up a location any way you want,’ Adams said Tuesday
Unauthorized pot shops have cropped up in droves, operating out in the open — and offering cheaper prices than the legal stores, where the products are highly taxed
A smoke-shop at 736 Broadway is closed following the announcement by city officials
The illicit stores are cashing in on a lucrative market that the mayor says could reach $1.3 billion, potentially generating $40 million in yearly tax revenues for the city
The notices say that the district attorney’s office is prepared to use its authority ‘to commence eviction proceedings of commercial tenants who are engaged in illegal trade or business,’ adding that prosecutors within five days of the written notice would ‘take over such eviction.’
Bragg also said that the two stores that are operating legitimately are facing stiff competition from stores that are not following the rules.
He said it was also a safety issue to ensure that dangerous products, including those containing contaminants, do not make it out on the market.
‘These illicit storefronts are putting public health at risk while undermining our ability to build an equitable market that works to offset the harms caused by the disproportionate enforcement of cannabis prohibition,’ said Chris Alexander, the executive director of the state cannabis office.
In 2022, the NYPD admitted police officers are essentially powerless to stop the illegal shops from operating.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has a reputation for being soft on crime, sent more than 400 letters on Tuesday to illegal weed stores that are operating uninhibited telling them that his office is prepared to launch civil lawsuits to begin evictions
In 2022, the NYPD admitted police officers are essentially powerless to stop the illegal shops from operating
A spokesman for the NYPD told DailyMail.com at the time that ‘the law, as currently written, does not provide an enforcement mechanism when an unlicensed establishment displays cannabis for sale…
‘Furthermore, the state law does not provide the NYPD with a mechanism to close down unlicensed establishments.’
The first legal dispensary in the city is operated by the nonprofit Housing Works – a social-service agency that helps those with AIDS and HIV, and those who were formerly incarcerated or homeless.
The organization said all proceeds from sales ‘go back to fund our services and advocacy, which include housing, healthcare, and people living with HIV and chronic illness’.
‘We’re absolutely thrilled to be the first and hopefully setting a model that other folks will have to follow,’ Charles King, CEO of Housing Works said in December.
King raved about the location in the East Village area being close to New York University – which is a tourist hot spot.
‘This location is a perfect location,’ he said. ‘We’re between the West Village, the East Village. Tourists can come by here easily. So we think we’re going to bring up a lot of sales here.’
