Queens pols push bill to close illegal pot shops but details are hazy
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Queens Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, State Senator Leroy Comrie and advocates called for the passage of the SMOKEOUT Act on the steps of City Hall on Friday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Queens elected officials and advocates rallied on the steps of City Hall on Friday in support of a bill that they say will help the city crackdown on illegal pot shops – but just how that crackdown would look under the bill remains unclear.
State Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar and the bill’s Senate sponsor, Queens Senator Leroy Comrie, say the SMOKEOUT Act would give the city and the mayor the power to shut down the illegal shops quickly and more effectively – much of the enforcement against the illegal cannabis shops currently lies with the state.
However, questions remain about what the enforcement under the bill would actually look like.
“We are here to say what's on every New Yorker's mind,” said Rajkumar, who proposed the aptly named SMOKEOUT Act – or Stop Marijuana Overproliferation and Keep Empty Operators of Unlicensed Transactions – just after the new year. “We are here to say what every New Yorker wants, which is to shut down these illegal cannabis shops. We can shut them down once and for all.”
The scourge of illegal smoke shops, which have popped up in the thousands since cannabis was legalized in 2021, has been a major sticking point for officials as well as local community boards. Locals worry too many of the shops are too close to schools and houses of worship, and attract crime. They also worry that the products being sold by the shops aren’t safe and that they’re being sold to underage New Yorkers.
“These illegal shops are hotbeds of crime,” said Rajkumar, perhaps Mayor Eric Adams’ most loyal ally in Albany. “People have gotten shot and killed in these shops, including in my district. These shops are popping up all over the city, they are near schools.”
Comrie said he has “three or four” popping up on a block in his district, harming other local businesses. He blames the problem on the state and former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“This is a ridiculous situation that was unfortunately instigated by our past governor who legalized smoking without making sure that the procedures were in place to have legal shops,” he said.
According to the state Office of Cannabis Management, there are currently 75 legal dispensaries statewide, seven of which are in Queens.
Up to this point, the shutting down of smoke shops has been up to OCM – who are also managing the rollout of legal dispensaries – and carried out locally by a joint task force consisting mainly of the Sheriff’s Department, the Department of Consumer & Worker Protection and the NYPD.
The Sheriff’s Department spearheads that task force, temporarily shutting down shops and levying fines along with DCWP.
If the bill passes and enforcement powers are handed over to the city, it’s unclear how that enforcement will be carried out.
Rajkumar did not fully respond to questions about how the bill changes the current enforcement situation outside of giving the city – and a mayoral administration often criticized for over policing – the ability to close shops, considering the Sheriff’s Department, a city agency, is already involved.
“The current situation is that the city of New York does not have the authority to shut down the shops,” said Rajkumar. “Currently, what's happening is that the City of New York can fine a shop, but then the shop pays the fine and opens right back up.”
“[The bill] gives the sheriff the power, it'll give cities and municipalities all across the state the power to close down the shops, just like if there's a restaurant with health violations,” she added.
When a shop is closed in the city as of now, a sign goes up on the door that reads “Temporarily closed by the Sheriff’s Office,” fines are levied and all illegal products are seized.
THE CITY recently reported that often shops open up their doors after being shut down without first paying the fines brought against them.
The legislation seemingly gives the city the ability to make that temporary closure permanent, but doesn’t specify how that permanence would be maintained.
Rajkumar said that Adams believes he could shut down all the illegal shops in New York City within 30-days if SMOKEOUT is implemented. How he would do that remains to be explained.
While City Hall did not give a direct comment when the Eagle asked how the mayor would accomplish that goal, they said that the city needs the authority from the state to shut down illegal shops, and that it would mean more noncompliant business shut down.
It is still unclear if the city’s larger hand in enforcement could lead to usage of more NYPD resources, or if enforcement could potentially bring the city back to the heavy-handed drug enforcement which led to the push toward legalization in the first place.
But Rajkumar said the current state of affairs isn’t working for the Black and brown communities who were disproportionately arrested for cannabis-related offenses in the past.
“It's very important to empower our Black and brown communities, and here today you see standing with us Black and brown communities,” Rajkumar said. “When the cannabis law was passed, decriminalization was so key, because for young people of color to be in prison for low-level marijuana offenses, is unacceptable. I know that everybody standing with us today agrees with that concept. But this is simply to take care of the illegal shops.”
“It implements a common sense mechanism to shut them down, that's all this does, and it does nothing more than that,” she added.
Regardless, the bill has support from some local community members who were present to call for its passage at City Hall on a rainy Friday morning.
“This is our community, these are our children,” said Mazeda Uddin, a Queens judicial delegate and CEO of the South Asian Fund for Education Scholarship and Training. “These cannabis shops are not acceptable for our faith leaders, community leaders and our elected members. It is not appropriate to be harmful to our educational system and the children and the families.”
City Councilmember Lynn Schulman has also expressed her support for the bill and intends to bring a resolution to the floor of the Council calling for its passage.
"This bill is critical in combating the unchecked growth of illegal marijuana dispensaries in our city,” she said in a statement. "By endorsing this bill, we uphold the rule of law and promote responsible business practices. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution and the SMOKEOUT Act to send a clear message of commitment to the safety and well-being of all New Yorkers."
