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When shopping for weed, there are certain red—and green—flags to look out for.
Ever since the consumption and sale of cannabis were legalized in New York, our streets have been peppered with new smoke shops hawking pre-rolls, flower and gummies. It seems like there’s a new smoke shop on every corner these days, and while it’s a sign of a new era in New York City, this influx has also caused some problems for the state’s dispensary rollout plan.
“Unlicensed dispensaries have littered New York neighborhoods, blatantly circumventing our laws and selling potentially dangerous products,” Governor Kathy Hochul said last week. “Enough is enough. I promised to protect our communities and hard-working, legal cannabis licensees by expediting the closure of illicit storefronts. I’m proud to stand up and say we got it done.”
Hochul announced a new plan to shut down “illicit” cannabis shops and to protect the legal or licensed marketplace in the state’s FY25 Enacted Budget, including giving authority to the Office of Cannabis Management and local municipalities to take action against illegal/unlicensed stores and “those who enable them.” The governor’s office says these new plans are “the strongest set of policies enacted thus far to tackle the illicit cannabis marketplace.”
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Here’s how New York will crack down on unlicensed/illegal cannabis dispensaries
OCM and the NYPD will be able to inspect and padlock businesses if they sell illicit cannabis and pose an “imminent threat” because they sell to minors, do unlicensed processing of cannabis, have violent conduct, have unlawful firearms, are in undisclosed proximity to schools, houses of worship or public youth facilities, have products that can lead to illness or hospitalization or have untested or mislabeled products.
Anyone who tries to remove or damage a padlock will be slapped with a misdemeanor.
If there is no “imminent” harm found, a business won’t be padlocked but will get a notice of violation and an order to stop its unlicensed activity. They’ll be padlocked if on reinspection they’re continuing their unlicensed sales. If they have other state licenses to sell tobacco, alcohol and lottery tickets, they could risk losing those if they continue unlicensed selling of cannabis.
Landlords who allow tenants to sell cannabis illegally and do not start the eviction process will be hit with a $50,000 fine and will have to pay five times the rent from the time they were notified of the violation outside of New York City. Landlords will now only have to prove that a business is “customarily or habitually” engaged in selling cannabis without a license, rather than “solely or primarily” doing so, the state says.
The city will actually be able to create its own laws to regulate unlicensed cannabis businesses and bring emergency proceedings (like inspections and padlocking) against these businesses and their landlords.
There will also be a statewide task force that’ll work with local police to enforce the rules.
How many illegal or unlicensed dispensaries are in New York?
It’s hard to know exactly how many exist, but there are reportedly about 1,500 to 2,000 dispensaries that do not have a license from New York State.
How many legal or licensed dispensaries are in New York?
There are currently (as of publication) 112 licensed dispensaries in New York State and 44 in New York City, according to the Office of Cannabis Management’s website.
How can I tell if a dispensary is legal/has a license?
Each licensed dispensary should have a label in the window—a QR code you can scan to see the Office of Cannabis Management’s website with a list of all licensed adult-use cannabis dispensaries.
It looks like this:
How can I find a legal dispensary in New York?
You can look them up on cannabis.ny.gov, where there’s a full list of verified licensed dispensaries. You can also meet owners of some of NYC’s coolest licensed dispensaries right here.