Weeding out the unregistered smoke shops

  

QNS

A new bill sponsored by Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar aims to shut down smoke shops that are illegally selling cannabis in New York City.

Rajkumar’s bill, called the SMOKEOUT Act (A8428), was introduced in Albany last week, and would grant local municipalities the power to close smoke shops caught illegally selling cannabis. Currently, the industry is primarily policed on a state level and enforcement has been limited.

The bill aims to address the public’s concern about the proliferation of illegal smoke shops, which have emerged since cannabis use was legalized in 2021.

“My legislation puts the power back in the hands of the people and municipalities, so that we can stop the sale of unlicensed cannabis that is endangering our children and our neighborhoods,” Rajkumar said.

Rajkumar, a longtime proponent of Mayor Eric Adams, says the bill would provide the Adams administration with the ability to promptly shut down illegal smoke shops in the city. Adams, who supports the bill, said the city would take swift action following Albany’s approval.

Currently, the State Cannabis Control Board, the approval and oversight body of the Office of Cannabis Management, operates as the only state entity responsible for shutting down the thousands of illegal smoke shops in operation.

Rajkumar unveiled her new legislation during a Mayoral town hall in December. Adams, who was in attendance, acknowledged that there was a lack of enforcement, noting that OCM doesn’t have the personnel to get on top of the problem.

Currently, many shops are being issued with fines, but are rarely shut down.

“Right now, the State has the enforcement power and the State does not have the manpower to do the enforcement. And so many of these places are opening and they’re laughing at the fines,” said Adams during the town hall last year. “It’s the price of doing business. They’re making so much money that they’re just opening and continuing to sell to our children.”

A new bill sponsored by Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar aims to shut down smoke shops that are illegally selling cannabis in New York City.

Rajkumar’s bill, called the SMOKEOUT Act (A8428), was introduced in Albany last week, and would grant local municipalities the power to close smoke shops caught illegally selling cannabis. Currently, the industry is primarily policed on a state level and enforcement has been limited.

The bill aims to address the public’s concern about the proliferation of illegal smoke shops, which have emerged since cannabis use was legalized in 2021.

“My legislation puts the power back in the hands of the people and municipalities, so that we can stop the sale of unlicensed cannabis that is endangering our children and our neighborhoods,” Rajkumar said.

Rajkumar, a longtime proponent of Mayor Eric Adams, says the bill would provide the Adams administration with the ability to promptly shut down illegal smoke shops in the city. Adams, who supports the bill, said the city would take swift action following Albany’s approval.

Currently, the State Cannabis Control Board, the approval and oversight body of the Office of Cannabis Management, operates as the only state entity responsible for shutting down the thousands of illegal smoke shops in operation.

Rajkumar unveiled her new legislation during a Mayoral town hall in December. Adams, who was in attendance, acknowledged that there was a lack of enforcement, noting that OCM doesn’t have the personnel to get on top of the problem.

Currently, many shops are being issued with fines, but are rarely shut down.

“Right now, the State has the enforcement power and the State does not have the manpower to do the enforcement. And so many of these places are opening and they’re laughing at the fines,” said Adams during the town hall last year. “It’s the price of doing business. They’re making so much money that they’re just opening and continuing to sell to our children.”

Queens gets the reefer: Pot shop opens across the street from Queens Borough Redundancy Donnie Richards' office

 

 NY Post

An illegal pot shop has brazenly opened up across from Queens’ civic hub — including its borough hall, DA’s office and state courthouse — and a store worker says the locale is totally awesome for business.

The site, which still has an old COVID-testing-center awning over it, opened about a week ago, the employee told The Post on Sunday — just a few months after Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature approved a tougher law to crack down on such illicit shops.

The store — steps away from the busy Kew Gardens Union Turnpike subway stop serving Queens Boulevard’s E and F lines — was serving up such cannabis-infused goodies as cherry limeade “Punch Gummies” on Sunday.

“We get customers from the DA’s office, from the court — I mean, I don’t know for sure, but they come from that way in suits, where else would they be from?” said a worker named Moe, who didn’t give his last name but added that his uncle owns the shop.

“We get people who have to go into court. If someone has court, they’ll go there and come here after to de-stress,” said Moe, adding that he moved to the city from Detroit to work at the shop, which has been doing brisk business and which his uncle claimed it was fully licensed.

 he employee boasted about the shop’s ideal location as he nonchalantly allowed photos to be taken of its displays of cannabis edibles, flowered marijuana and other THC-infused products.

“If you're near transportation, you'll do good. We’re near two bus stops, two train stations. I’m the first [pot shop] people see when they get off,” Moe said. 

He said he texted his uncle to see if he would respond to questions from The Post. The owner declined, Moe said.

There are 26 licensed cannabis shops in the Empire State, including 11 in New York City — and not one of which is located at the Queens site.

Another tell-tale sign that the weed dispensary is unlicensed is that all of its packages up for sale had a California stamp. Legal weed products sold in New York are manufactured here and must have an official New York stamp.   

“Nobody cares anymore,” lamented Alex Najjar, who owns the All Star News Stand next to the unlicensed pot shop.

“They just call it a ‘smoke shop,’ get the license for cigarettes and then sell whatever. Nobody checks. Nobody enforces it,” said Naijar, who has owned his newstand for 16 years.

He said he pays a hefty annual fee to sell cigarettes at his stand and that it bothers him that a shop can just shrug off the law.

“It makes me feel like, why should I pay my fee for the year when I can just sell anything I want and no one cares?” Naijar said.

The fact that the weed store kept the covid testing site sign up considering what a big pharma vaccine and vaccine mandate shill Donnie was is the most delicious irony of all.