Crackdown on Illegal Weed Shops Expands, as Manhattan DA asks Landlords to Evict Violators

Mayor Eric Adams is teaming with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to crack down on illegal cannabis shops by using some new tactics.The city is seeking to leverage a little-used provision of New York’s Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law to get building landlords to evict store owners who sell marijuana without a license.If the landlords do not take action, the NYC Sheriff’s Office will have the authority to take over the eviction proceedings.The city has also filed four public nuisance complaints against East Village establishments that it alleges are selling marijuana products without a license — including to minors. Adams, Bragg and law enforcement announced the effort at a press conference on the Upper West Side Tuesday.“We won’t stop until every illegal smoke shop is rolled up and smoked out,” Adams said.But that’s a big undertaking. Law enforcement officials discussed the nuisance abatement strategy at a City Council hearing on unlicensed cannabis shops last month. At the time, Sheriff Anthony Miranda made it clear to council members eager to eradicate the illegal pot shops that this tactic was unlikely to lead to stores being shut down right away.“Nuisance abatement takes a little while because the person has to have due process,” Miranda said at that hearing.

An employee of the smoke shop on 736 Broadway said he has tried to obtain a cannabis license for over a year

The sheriff is leading the multi-agency taskforce Adams convened in December to address the recent explosion of stores selling marijuana without a license. The NYPD has counted more than 1,300 of these shops across the five boroughs.The lawsuits, filed Tuesday by the city, targeted unlicensed cannabis shops located in lower Manhattan, the area where the state’s first two legal dispensaries recently opened their doors.For the rest of the story, please click here!