NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York State announced on Thursday plans to take action against unlicensed cannabis dispensaries ahead of the first legal sales at the end of the year.
Mayor Eric Adams detailed a crackdown on unlicensed dispensaries and a new interagency task force that will seek to shut down gray market vendors. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced new universal symbols that will be attached to all licensed dispensaries and state-approved cannabis products.
New York State distributed the first wave of dispensary licenses to formerly incarcerated people convicted under prohibition-era cannabis laws or their immediate family members as part of the most ambitious cannabis equity program in the country.
Gray market dispensaries, which have proliferated more or less unchallenged since cannabis was legalized in March 2021, threaten to undermine the reparations effort.
If running a dispensary doesn’t require a license, then the equity licenses won’t serve to empower those who had their lives destroyed by the war on drugs.
The Cannabis NYC Interagency Enforcement Task Force is a joint operation between the NYPD, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the state’s Office of Cannabis Management.
Adams said more than 100,000 illegal cannabis products worth over $4 million were seized during the two week trial of the task force.
The pilot program ran from Nov. 14th through 19th and Nov. 28th through Dec. 3rd.
Agents inspected 53 locations — issuing 500 civil violations and 66 criminal summonses in the process.
“We will not let the economic opportunities that legal cannabis offers be taken for a ride by unlicensed establishments,” said Adams. “Today, we are not only announcing the seizure of $4 million in products that were being sold illegally to New Yorkers. Thanks to this joint interagency task force pilot, the city and the state collaborated to crack down on bad actors who are putting New Yorkers’ — particularly young people’s — health and safety at risk, and who sought to cut the line and undermine the legal market.”
Hochul announced a system for consumers to ensure they’re buying approved products from licensed dispensaries on Thursday.
Legal dispensaries will sport a universal symbol with a QR code. A similar symbol will be applied to products that are up to the state’s standards.
"It's critical for New York's cannabis consumers to understand the risks of buying untested, illicit products and to have the tools to guide them to the safer, legal market that's poised to open," said Hochul. "These tools will help to protect public health and strengthen our ability to deliver the equitable cannabis market our law envisions."
The governor also said the state will launch a “Why buy legal?” public information campaign that will seek to explain the risks of buying untested cannabis products and encourage consumers to buy from licensed stores in support of the state’s equity goals.
“Governor Hochul has made clear that we cannot be a legal, regulated market operating side-by-side with an illicit market that puts public health at risk, does not contribute to our communities, and undermines our goal to build the most equitable and inclusive cannabis market in the nation,” said OCM Executive Director Chris Alexander. “We’re thankful for this partnership with New York City in helping to shutter these illicit operators, as we are with similar partnerships across the state, and our efforts to shutdown these stores and trucks will continue to expand.”
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