-- The latest attempt to crack down on unlicensed smoke shops is a new law that fines the landlords who rent them space., officials hope they can whack them down by cutting off their access to places where they operate.
Schulman and a group of city officials announced a new plan Monday to close down the thousands of illegal smoke shops that have sprung up like, yes, weeds, all over the city. At last count, there were about 8,000 of them across the five boroughs.New York City sheriff's office gives CBS New York an inside look at their efforts to crack down on illegal smoke shops
Officials made a point of standing in front of the Union Square Travel Agency -- yes, that's the name -- one of a handful of legal shops sellingproducts in New York City. When you make a purchase at a state-sanctioned weed shop, it collects sales taxes which go into the state budget. "The whole point of the legal market ... you'll be able to trace that strain from the seed to the sale. That is very, very important and we want to make sure we know exactly what is going in to our bodies," Councilwoman Carlina Rivera said.