South Queens Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar final Tuesday tabled laws within the State Meeting that might give New York Metropolis and different municipalities in New York State the facility to right away shut all unlawful, unlicensed hashish and different smoke retailers.
Rajkumar — who represents the 38th Meeting District, encompassing the neighborhoods of Glendale, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Ridgewood and Woodhaven – mentioned the SMOKEOUT Act (A8428) is one among her “main priorities for passage” this session in Albany.
She mentioned SMOKEOUT is the acronym for “Cease Marijuana Overproliferation and Preserve Empty Operators of Unlicensed Transactions.”
“Unlawful smoke retailers are in a position to function with nearly complete impunity as a result of native municipalities lack authority to implement hashish store violations,” mentioned Rajkumar, additionally a lawyer, who made historical past as the primary South Asian-American girl ever to be elected to a state workplace in New York.
“It’s time to instantly shut all 36,000 unlawful smoke retailers throughout our state, together with the 1,500 unlawful smoke retailers fueling crime in New York Metropolis,” she added. “My laws places the facility again within the arms of the folks and municipalities, in order that we will cease the sale of unlicensed hashish that’s endangering our youngsters and our neighborhoods.
“We’ll come collectively as one State this Albany session and eradicate these epicenters of crime,” Rajkumar continued.
She famous {that a} 2021 invoice, handed in Albany legalizing leisure hashish, established a Hashish Management Board as the one company in all the State of New York that’s approved to shut unlicensed hashish retailers and order the seizure of merchandise.
“At the moment, New York Metropolis can solely raid a smoke store if there’s suspicion of sure different violations, reminiscent of untaxed cigarettes,” Rajkumar mentioned. “Even then, town can’t shut the retailers.”
Upon passage of the SMOKEOUT Act, she mentioned “New York Metropolis and all municipalities throughout the State may have the authority to shut unlawful smoke retailers and seize all merchandise.
“This may enable New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams, and legislation enforcement statewide, to get into motion swiftly shutting down smoke retailers and completely eliminating their blight,” mentioned Rajkumar, noting that Adams has mentioned that, “when granted the enforcement energy from Albany, he might clear up the smoke retailers drawback in 30 days.”
Rajkumar initially disclosed her plans in December to introduce the laws in Albany at a Mayoral City Corridor in Corona, Queens, drawing plaudits from Adams and boisterous applause from group leaders.
“I’m proud to announce right now that, in our State Capitol this session, I’m introducing a invoice to increase the Metropolis’s energy to close down the unlawful, unlicensed smoke retailers which are plaguing our communities,” she informed the city corridor. “These unlicensed unlawful smoke retailers are endangering the kids of our group, and they’re hotbeds of crime.”
On the city corridor, Adams mentioned: “The Hashish Legislation that was handed was supposed to permit solely these authorized retailers to open. The issue with the legislation, it didn’t give native municipalities the facility and authority to go in and implement the unlawful retailers.
“We’re asking the representatives in Albany, that was the invoice that Assemblywoman Rajkumar was speaking about. We’re saying, ‘Give us the enforcement energy,’” he added. “Proper now, the State has the enforcement energy, and the State doesn’t have the manpower to do the enforcement energy.
“And so, many of those locations are opening, they usually’re laughing on the fines,” the mayor continued. “It’s the worth of doing enterprise. They’re making a lot cash that they’re simply opening and persevering with to promote to our youngsters.
“And so, we’re hoping this 12 months in Albany that we are actually going to get the enforcement energy,” Adams mentioned.
Rajkumar mentioned New York Metropolis is “now dwelling” to an estimated 1,500 retailers illegally promoting hashish and not using a license, and that there are an estimated 36,000 statewide.
“Smoke retailers have turn out to be a magnet for crime in New York Metropolis: stuffed with useful contraband and unfastened money, they’re a tantalizing goal for armed robberies,” she mentioned, stating that such robberies skyrocketed from 137 in 2021 to 593 in 2022, “or nearly one theft for each two smoke retailers.
In 2023 alone, Rajkumar mentioned there have been not less than 5 deadly shootings in smoke retailers, together with one in her district.
“Typically these unlicensed smoke retailers additionally promote different contraband together with untaxed cigarettes and psychedelics,” she mentioned. “Some supply edibles interesting to kids, packaged to resemble sugar cereals and different common kids’s snacks. Retailers are opening throughout the road from faculties.”
Along with breeding crime and endangering neighborhoods, the assemblywoman mentioned unlawful smoke retailers “unfairly compete with the authorized hashish dispensaries approved by the Hashish Legislation of 2021.”
She mentioned these authorized operators “underwent a prolonged licensure course of and promote rigorously examined and controlled hashish.
“Authorized retailers can’t meet the costs of unlawful retailers’ unregulated hashish, and there are solely 40 authorized dispensaries throughout the state,” Rajkumar mentioned. “This undermines the legalized hashish program’s intent to supply financial empowerment to individuals who had been impacted prior to now by draconian drug legal guidelines, and to reinvest in communities that had been traditionally focused for enforcement.”
She additionally mentioned hashish merchandise from unlawful retailers “even current a hazard to the customers,” stating {that a} random sampling of unlawful smoke store hashish merchandise discovered that 40 % contained harmful contaminants reminiscent of E. coli, salmonella, lead and pesticides.
“None met the security requirements of New York’s authorized hashish,” mentioned Rajkumar, including that “the present price of smoke store closures, nevertheless, is unacceptably sluggish, transferring at snail’s tempo since municipalities lack the authority to shutter them on their very own.
“The staggering variety of retailers, mixed with restricted assets by the Hashish Management Board, has resulted in it issuing solely 305 orders for unlawful smoke retailers to shut throughout 2023,” she continued. “This quantities to lower than 1 % of unlawful retailers. Even then, the Board typically takes no motion to implement the order to shut, and unlawful retailers proceed to function anyway.”
On Monday, the New York State Workplace of Hashish Administration (OCM) printed the third in its collection of enforcement motion updates in opposition to unlicensed hashish retailers throughout the State in 2023.
Through the month of December, OCM mentioned its investigators and people from the Division of Taxation and Finance (DTF) inspected 48 retailers, together with 17 re-inspections, suspected of promoting unlicensed hashish.
OCM mentioned these inspections resulted within the seizure of 465 kilos of flower, 537 kilos of edibles, and 35 kilos of focus, with an estimated worth of $4,260,000.
These actions carry the entire of inspections to 381 places, 105 of which have been re-inspected, to yield over 11,800 kilos of seized illicit hashish value greater than $57 million, OCM mentioned.
It mentioned it and DTF investigators “will proceed inspections every week throughout the State in 2024 to close down illicit operators as a brand new wave of authorized dispensaries open their doorways for enterprise.”
On Dec. 20, OCM mentioned its investigators, in addition to these from DTF and the New York State Legal professional Common’s Workplace (OAG), “shut down and padlocked Massive Chief Smoke Store, an egregious unlawful hashish retailer working in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, for working and not using a license.”
OCM mentioned local people leaders have “vocally opposed” Massive Chief Smoke Store, and the local people board handed a unanimous decision to close down unlicensed shops of their neighborhood.
OCM mentioned it and DTF have “continued an aggressive schedule implementing their new enforcement authority in opposition to unlicensed hashish retail operations.”
By the tip of 2023, OCM mentioned inspections had been performed in all areas of New York: Western (Buffalo/ Niagara); Central (Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Ithaca); Southern Tier; Capital Area; North Nation; Decrease Hudson Valley; New York Metropolis; and Lengthy Island.
Along with the preliminary inspections carried out, OCM mentioned it and DTF performed re-inspections of places that had been issued notices of violations throughout their preliminary inspection.
“These re-inspections happen to find out if the placement is continuous to function in defiance of a stop order or if they’ve in reality ceased their unlawful conduct,” OCM mentioned. “These places discovered to be working opposite to the unique stop order are recognized, in order that greater degree fines may be assessed.
“By taking decisive motion in opposition to unlicensed hashish companies, New York State is making important strides in direction of shutting down illegal and unlicensed hashish operations that jeopardize public security, shopper well-being, and the integrity the State’s authorized hashish market,” it added.
Chris Alexander, OCM’s government director, mentioned: “As we’ve mentioned time and time once more, the primary treatment for the issue of those illicit retailers is getting extra authorized companies open.
“When New Yorkers select to buy at a authorized, adult-use dispensary, they know the place their merchandise are coming from, that these hashish merchandise have been examined, and that these small companies are reinvesting in our communities,” he mentioned. “We’ll proceed to grab unlawful merchandise, and we all know that the collaborative work continues throughout all ranges of presidency to deal with this public well being difficulty.”
OCM mentioned fines for the unlawful sale of hashish begin at $10,000 per day and might rise as much as $20,000 per day for essentially the most egregious conduct.
An extra high-quality of $5,000 may be levied for elimination of the Order, and the inspected companies may additionally be topic to further violations and penalties underneath the Tax Legislation., OCM mentioned.
It mentioned the enforcement laws handed in Could 2023 additionally authorizes OCM to hunt a state courtroom order to finally padlock companies discovered to be in repeated violation of the legislation.
As well as, OCM mentioned the legislation makes it against the law to promote hashish and hashish merchandise and not using a license.
