By New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday that his administration is ready to crack down on the growing number of illegal cannabis retailers across five boroughs.
“We have no intention of allowing these stores to remain open,” Adams said at a news conference. As quoted by the news outlet NY1.
The store, which has become a staple of the Big Apple this year, captures just how troublesome it is for state and local officials to enforce new marijuana laws.
The then governor will legalize recreational pot in New York in 2021.
The new law went into effect immediately, allowing adults 21 and older in the state to own weeds and bring them into public places where tobacco is allowed.
However, the state’s regulated cannabis market is not yet fully launched. None of the stores selling marijuana in New York are technically legal, but that hasn’t stopped many aspiring entrepreneurs from getting a head start in the upcoming “green rush.”
Mayor Adams appeared at a press conference on Thursday with New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda, who “lifted up something edible in a wrapper made to look like a Willy Wonka chocolate bar.” According to NY1.
“These are products that are not intended for our adults and are putting our children at risk,” Miranda was quoted in the outlet. It is misleading.”
Reported by NY1 “Adams said authorities visited 53 locations during a recent two-week sting operation, seized $4.1 million worth of products, and issued 566 violations.”
“The average fine for each location was between $30,000 and $50,000 in total,” Miranda told reporters at a press conference. per NY1.
This isn’t the first time New York officials have launched a crackdown on unregulated weed retailers.
In February, the state’s cannabis regulator sent cease and desist letters to many such businesses, ordering them to cease immediately, threatening to jeopardize their prospects of obtaining a cannabis retailer’s license if they continued to sell. I warned you that there is.
“We want to make sure these operators fully understand the law and the consequences they face. , we fully expect it to be discontinued, and if not, we will act.”
State regulators have warned that products sold by unlicensed retailers may be unsafe, a coalition of trade organizations representing the legal cannabis industry in New York and surrounding states announced late last month. The evaluation is supported by a report that has been conducted.
About 40 percent of the marijuana products sampled from unregulated New York City stores contained contaminants such as E. coli, salmonella, and lead, according to the report.
“The report’s findings are highly disturbing and highlight the enormous risks posed by unscrupulous companies operating above the law,” said one of the groups behind the report, the New York Medical Cannabis Association. said Ngiste Abebe, president of the Association of Industry (NYMCIA). “New York has a responsibility not only to protect the health and safety of its residents, but to deliver on its promise of a socially fair adult marketplace. .”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said in October that she hopes the state’s first regulated cannabis retailers will open by the end of the year.
“By the end of this year, we will have the first 20 clinics open,” said Hochul. “And every month or so, and he 20 more times. It works and it will be successful.”
