Just in time for 4/20, Gov. Hochul is hashing, er, harshing the buzz of illegal weed sellers — but fret not, herb aficionados: You’ll still be able to get your goods from one of the 44 legal shops in New York City, and these legal marijuana mongers will benefit from the crackdown on their illicit competition.
After months of signaling that a crackdown was nigh, Hochul got language into the final budget bill that will establish a statewide taskforce to close unlicensed stores and enable the Office of Cannabis Management and local authorities to padlock businesses immediately if they’re selling illegal pot and pose a threat to local health and safety.
Crucially, it allows the New York City Sherriff to deputize NYPD officers to close down stores, giving a much-needed manpower boost to enforcement of weed laws.
It also imposes steep fines for landlords who turn a blind eye to their renters’ illicit dealings.
Since weed was legalized in 2021, thousands of unlicensed shops have overwhelmed New York City neighborhoods (as has the stench of pot smoke).
This put unaware consumers, who might not know that they were buying unregulated product, at risk.
Ridding the city of these shops has been a game of whack-a-mole thus far, as new stores sprout up overnight and many raided shops reopen days after officials shut them down.
Credit for the new measures is also due to Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens), who pushed loudly for penalties and procedures for shutting down illegal cannabis shops and introduced the SMOKEOUT Act in the Assembly, many aspects of which were adopted into the budget.
The state’s initial strategy for rolling out legal weed clearly went to pot, but props to Hochul and Rajkumar for trying to clean up the joint.
It’s a sad 4/20 for illegal weed dealers, but the rest of the city can rejoice.