Lawmakers look to weed out illegal NYC smoke shops with possible ties to Middle East terror fundingof marijuana– which failed to include tough enforcement measures to discourage illicit peddling — fumed Monday that their districts are now choking on unlicensed shops. — whose district runs from Greenwich Village to the Upper West side — rattled off the names and addresses of nearly a dozen illicit pot shops on his turf and complaining that there was little that was being done about them.
“What do we need to do? Because clearly whatever we did isn’t really working,” Krueger told OCM officials. “Maybe it does require legislative action as opposed to just regulatory action.”Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, D-New York named names and addresses of almost a dozen illegal marijuana shops in New York City.But opponents of marijuana legalization said pro-pot lawmakers can’t complain because they are the ones who failed to address enforcement up front when they approved the law three years ago.
“I absolutely agree, senator…. We want them closed as bad as you. We would love a more efficient ,” said Chris Alexander, executive director of the state Office of Cannabis Management.Currently, there are only 26 licensed cannabis shops across the state — 11 of which are in New York City.“I understand you’re staffing up and there’s not enough of you to do the thousands of illegal stores,” Krueger said.
She also suggested amending the law to make it easier for city district attorneys to bring cases, while adding that the city Health Department should take a more active role in shuttering shops.