Over the past three months, New York City has closed 779 illegal marijuana shops, while the state has closed 230 more. These numbers, released Wednesday, are a result of new legal tools that each county has to act more broadly and with a “heavy hand” against illegal marijuana businesses.
On May 21, Governor Kathy Hochul launched the Cannabis Enforcement Task Force. This statewide effort provides the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and individual localities with greater authority to take action against illicit shops and their operators.
Additionally, the CMO reports that more than 6,000 pounds of illicit product valued at $22 million were seized from these stores, bringing the statewide total seized since May 2023 to more than 25,000 pounds of prohibited product valued at more than $110,000,000.
Now, because these illegal competitors have been eliminated, there are 152 dispensaries across New York City that have grossed $312 million in actual sales in the past few months alone.
In the Big Apple alone, legal cannabis sales increased 72% in New York City in the first 10 weeks since these enforcement actions began. Retailers collectively reported weekly revenue growth of $2.6 million during that period.
A fair market
For her part, the executive director of the OCM, Felicia Reid, explained that every day, this state agency and its partners work hard to guarantee a fairer, safer and more equitable market, supporting legal cannabis businesses in New York.
“I also want to acknowledge the broad public support for the working group’s efforts, especially from those who have connected with us through the CMO’s online incident reporting form. Together, we can build and sustain a thriving, regulated and inclusive cannabis market,” she said.
In May, a report found there were more than 2,900 illegal shops in the city alone.
In early May, New York City launched “Operation Lock” as a broad enforcement effort under the new laws, which give each city more authority and autonomy to pursue illegal marketplace activity.
A couple of weeks ago, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) seized millions of dollars worth of illegal products from a warehouse in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. It then dismantled a manufacturing operation that was printing fake labels in Sheepshead Bay.
Municipal sources said community complaints to 311 helped alert them to the larger seizures.
In early May, New York Sheriff Anthony Miranda exposed that many unscrupulous merchants are selling dangerous products and even using tactics to lure children into purchasing their items, putting them at risk.
In recent months, nearly $108 million in fines have been imposed across the five counties, of which about $33 million is for illegal products seized. More than $75 million in civil penalties have also been issued.
“They sell drugs everywhere”
For some Bronx dealers, the closure of these establishments obviously directly benefits those who have obtained a license. Although that does not mean that drugs are not still openly sold on every corner of New York. And even less so, that minors do not have access to them.
Dominican grocer Fausto Carreño, 60, compares the Grand Concourse Avenue in that county to a “big open-air drug store.”
“All kinds of drugs are openly sold and consumed on these streets. Since marijuana was legalized, everything has gotten even more out of hand, because many people have understood that everything is normal now. They will close all the illegal shops, but all the junk that is openly and openly sold on the streets, near families and children, has also multiplied,” he said.
The fact:
- 1,000 illegal cannabis shops have closed across New York in the past three months