As legal dispensaries finally make their way to Hell's Kitchen, new emergency regulations that allow the city to permanently padlock unregulated cannabis stores are starting to curb unlicensed cannabis stores in the neighborhood.
A series of emergency rules and regulations, dubbed “Operation Padlock” by Mayor Eric Adams, will force the Sheriff's Office, NYPD and Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to identify businesses where cannabis products are sold without a license. authorized to inspect stores and permanently close them down. A violation was discovered to prevent restart.
In a press conference about the move, Mayor Eric Adams expressed a renewed commitment to making the spread of unregulated marijuana dispensaries even more visible, saying, “Our message is clear: We wants to shut them down,” he added. “And if you're there, we have a key with your name on it.” District 3 City Councilman Eric Bottcher posted a notice of the document and said the Sheriff's Office , adding that they expect closures in the area to begin by May 15th.
Local officials had hoped the regulations would lead to a change in the closure of the city's more than 2,800 unlicensed cannabis stores (more than 50 in Hell's Kitchen alone). W42ST's first vacant store survey conducted in the spring of 2023 revealed that there were 41 unlicensed smoking stores in the neighborhood, which number increased to 50 by the fall store survey and 53 at the last count. It was increasing.
City Councilwoman Gail Brewer, who recently gained attention for her one-woman battle against an unlicensed Upper West Side smoke shop called Zaza Waza, told W42ST that the new regulations are “good news. Because there was nothing before,” she said, adding: She points to the prevalence of unlicensed stores selling cannabis products in children's packaging and is glad to see the sheriff's office prioritizing stores near schools and youth centers.
The mayor recently touted that the city had already sealed off 75 unlicensed stores, but he had initially promised that the process would clear a wide swath of unlicensed stores in the city within a month, but this was a far cry from his ambitions. Some people think it's a typical schedule. Brewer, who has experienced firsthand the difficulty of monitoring unlicensed stores, said store owners and lawyers are looking for ways to delay or prevent permanent closures, and that the policy requires a lot of effort. He pointed out that there would be issues. “She says the mayor can do it within 30 days, but I don't know if that's possible,” she said.
Hell's Kitchen has seen a revolving door of unlicensed smoking establishments in recent years, with black-market establishments opening and reopening soon after they close. While new unlicensed stores have sprung up on Ninth Avenue, there have also been some notable closures. Recently, High Life Smoke Dispensary and Green Light District, the smoking shops that sandwich the popular Zillions Pizza on W42nd Street, have closed, leaving many unlicensed shops on W30s and Exotic Town on W55th Street to close.・Convenience stores were also closed. However, as of this article's publication, the Green Light District is open again.
A legal dispensary on the West Side is also bidding. These include licensed stores at 862 9th Avenue (formerly Bar Veloce), 797 8th Avenue (currently a vacant storefront), and 500 W43rd Street (currently an unlicensed store called Pink Treezzz). The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) has a map of current and pending adult-use retail dispensaries that lists licensees who have obtained proximity protection for planned or open adult-use retail dispensaries and medical dispensaries.
Unlicensed stores that have popped up and re-emerged amid previous closure attempts have raised questions about state distribution policies, with farmers, consumers and legal distributors accusing the licensing process of being too restrictive. The result is a glut of unsold legal product and an opportunity for unregulated stores to stop selling it. Dominate the market. OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander will resign in September following the results of a task force-led report outlining the failure of the state's licensing rollout, which Gov. Cathy Hochul called a “disaster” last Friday. Announced.
The report, led by Janet Moy of the Department of General Services, found there was a significant backlog in the license approval process, with more than 5,600 applications dating back to August 2022 still pending review by “understaffed” licensing teams. He noted that they are waiting and are proceeding with a “decentralized” process. .
Moi told the New York Times that 90% of applications submitted required amendments, which significantly slowed down the review process. “We need to fix the process. We need to resolve the backlog,” Moi said. “We need to get these legal cannabis dispensaries up and running.”
According to the report, OCM also spent millions of dollars and significant time attempting to create its own proprietary software system rather than adapting already proven programs used by other state agencies. It is said that he spent . OCM recommended doubling the number of licensing personnel and creating a more formal denial system to streamline the process. OCM also approved a policy requiring regulators to review 1,200 license applicants who have already secured commercial space as a way to quickly open more legal dispensaries. There are pros and cons to this move.
Some local officials objected to the report's findings, blaming Governor Hochul's office for the permit delays. “I know that the executive director has consistently asked for more staff and more support, and has been completely ignored,” said state Sen. Liz Krueger, co-author of the New York Cannabis Law.・Told the Times. “So I think the governor should have done this 18 months ago. And I wish they would have listened to the agency.”
Regardless of changes to the state's licensing process, the jury is still out on whether unlicensed stores in the area, and the city, will indeed disappear forever within the next month. Mr. Brewer recalled his experience putting a padlock on Zsa Zsa's door, only to find it locked the next day. “It's better to have a big padlock.”
