New York's crackdown on illicit weed stores is swift, finally

New York’s adult-use licensed cannabis program has struggled for success, in large part because of the explosion of unlicensed stores selling cheaper products with no sales tax. Angry residents and frustrated licensees begged for a change, and Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed for enforcement to expand beyond the OCM.

The Office of Cannabis Management originally chose to take on the enforcement of unlicensed stores themselves, but with only 11 employees assigned to the task and thousands of stores to inspect, the effort was a failure.

Mayor Eric Adams announced at the beginning of May that the city would begin a crackdown on unlicensed cannabis stores — and it looks like the effort is working. Operation Padlock to Protect brought together the New York City Sherriff’s Joint Compliance Task Force, made up of members from the Sheriff’s Office; the New York City Police Department; and the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. In one week, the group conducted 150 inspections.

As of May 14, the inspections resulted in:

• 77 cease-and-desist orders and 75 shops sealed.
• 370 notices of violations holding 3,878 counts of violations across NYPD, DCWP, and the Sheriff’s Office.
• Nearly $6 million in civil penalties were issued.

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