Gale Brewer sent out a Monday morning email about the currently active illegal marijuana retailers of the Upper West Side; according to an analysis conducted by her office, there are 26 of them.
“The survey of 61 bodegas, delis, smoke shops and newsstands by Brewer’s office revealed 22 of the 26 illicit cannabis retailers also sell tobacco products, some of them without a tobacco license, according to public data,” her email states.
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“I am concerned that the free-for-all environment will become entrenched and undermine the law’s intent before the legal market takes shape,” Brewer said. “There are public health risks such as underage use and contaminated products. The city and state miss out on tax revenue, which we need, and is used to fund the law’s social equity programs. Leverage to reduce violent crime and limit participation in illegal markets goes away.”
“There is no ambiguity in the law, it’s illegal to sell cannabis without a license, but there’s ambiguity in who should enforce it,” said Brewer, who called on city and state officials to come up with solutions. “The NYPD apparently directed precincts not to enforce cannabis laws, the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection does not have authority over cannabis products, and the New York State Office of Cannabis Management only has authority over already-licensed retailers,” Brewer said.
Brewer also wrote a letter to various agencies with the aim of increased enforcement. Here’s the letter.
Read my letter asking for more enforcement of illicit cannabis shops. My staff found 26 storefronts selling cannabis without a license on UWS. Hurts the emerging regulated market and is dangerous to consumers. City should seize illegal weed and be good partner to @nys_cannabis. pic.twitter.com/0ycOAt6rDu
— Gale A. Brewer (@galeabrewer) December 12, 2022
To address concerns and questions about the budding industry as it will exist in the neighborhood, Council Member Brewer and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal are hosting a West Side Cannabis Town Hall on Tuesday, December 13. Here’s more info on that.
Why are you harming consumers in the neighborhood Gail? Do you want people to go back to “calling their guy” to get a delivery? Marijuana is legal in the State of NY, growers have more than 300,000 lbs backed up and the only reason there aren’t legal sales is because the state can’t get its act together fast enough. They’ve had plenty of time. So leave the people who are selling in this weird limbo period alone.
Steve:
Since you’ve not been paying attention: Retail stores selling weed have had a few problems with shootings.
So get the appropriate license.
Alcohol is legal in NY State/City, but you’ll need a license to sell it. So the same enforcement rules can apply to weed retailers.
Plenty of stores in the neighborhood have had problems with crime and even shootings. Those stores are not immune.
Steve Raklouk:
No, plenty of stores in the neighborhood have not had shootings at anywhere near the rate of pot stores.
If you’d said, McDonald’s “restaurants”, then you’d have a valid point.
Your other comment about pot sales licensing not being well established policy is an excuse to do nothing about a serous problem.
Is your point to encourage the severe licensing of pot retailers? Your posts so grossly misrepresent the issue, that anyone reading them, with any knowledge, will say to himself/herself: “Well, if he’s going to pretend there isn’t a problem, we need to consider radical licensing requirements, that the NYPD and State Police then enforce.”
I don’t know what severe licensing is or McDonald’s vs real restaurants but thank you, from the moment you first chimed in with “Since you’ve not been paying attention…” I knew this would be a pleasant interaction and you have not disappointed even once.
Real restaurants, whether take out or not, chain or not, serve food.
The only things that McDonald’s serves that are close to food are the fries and the coffee.
what is this non-sequitur about? your line of thinking is bizarre
Pot is LEGAL.
If the GOV can’t provide it, I can.
ALL DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGAL.
So pot mixed with whatever should be legal?
There are all sorts of poisons that will also get you high.
The sales of legal drugs like pot or alcohol need to be licensed, and regulated. You do understand that food sales are licensed and regulated?
Anyhow, the issue here isn’t the legality of weed, it’s the retailers on the upper west side.
Alcohol is legal in NYC too but you need a LICENSE and there are penalties awaiting those who violate the law.
Would you buy your medical prescriptions from unlicensed “pharmacists” who get their stock…”somewhere” before they sell it to you?
Alcohol has a well established licensing system that the state has so far not created for marijuana, so you have a legal substance but no legal way for one person to sell it to another even though the legislature approved it years ago. It’s ridiculous. And while we wait for that licensing framework we have this odd interim system. So what? People were already buying it and it’s safer this way even without licenses.
Millions of NYers have for decades bought their pot that way and they’re fine.
And liquor stores get robbed too.
“Some people” run red lights so why have red lights?
Just because others commit crimes isn’t a justification to commit more.
Pandering to chemically dependent people for their next high who can’t wait until licensed outlets appear in 2023 can get their stash where they always have.
What a distraction. Smoking is bad and should be restricted. Pot is good and can be sold illegally with no regard. And oh wow places selling pot get robbed more often.
I truly hope you find this UWS an improvement.
Eventually things will settle down and the legal market will work as intended. It’s not a surprise at all that a few are taking advantage of the chaotic period before the market really takes shape to make a few bucks. I actually think that this grey market is a lot better than the black market and will soon be gone, so let’s all relax and call it a temporary transition period. The state will have plenty of time to crack down on those that aren’t paying their tax and aren’t buying from licensed sources soon enough.
I only hope that they’ll prevent smoking weed in public places to the same extent that they do tobacco. Sick of the constant smell of weed everywhere. Edibles people!
Is it just me or the stench of burning residual insecticide sprayed all over marijuana plants?
The smell has evolved over the years from “Oh, someone’s smoking pot” to “Who ran over a skunk?” to “What’s that smell of horse manure?”
How could it not stink up your clothing, hair, clothing, furniture and bed linens as bad as tobacco?
You can deny or deflect all you want….but that’s the stench out on the street and whenever I pass by pot smokers going full blast on the sidewalks, subways, bus shelters, et al.
How can that stink be enjoyable to inhale? No, really. I don’t get it.
I don’t really get smoking in general – pot or tobacco. The same forces that eventually drove tobacco into the wilderness will eventually do the same to pot smokers. Again, move to edibles people!
I agree with Relaxed. Smoking is not good fpr anyone’s lungs and can lead to serious respatory health problems. Ingesting cannabis is a far healthier alternative and can relieve pain and have additional medicinal value. Go for the edibles.
This is a non-issue. Gale should spend her time fixing bigger problems, and if the State had its act together this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place. When regulated, high-quality, safely-sourced cannabis is available at fair market prices, NOBODY will be buying from these unlicensed stores. Spend your time and money and efforts on bigger problems than ones that will dry up on their own in a matter of months.
One of the roadblocks to the licensing process is the equity clause. There are a lot of people with the capital & expertise in this business that can’t get licensed. The focus is to give licenses to minorities & those with past drug convictions not the people best able to do the job. What NY needs to do is let any person with the money & the business knowhow apply and open shop. Once more legal shops open up the the illegal ones will start to disappear. Most people I know who use it for recreation or medical want legal places to purchase it so they know it’s safe. There is currently a lawsuit that is preventing legal shops from opening due to this clause. Google “nys marijuana license lawsuit equity”.