Councilmembers call for a hit of pot enforcement
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City councilmembers called on the state to allow the Council to pass its own laws about the enforcement of illegal marijuana shops. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
In a rare show of unity, a bi-partisan group of city councilmembers, including several from Queens, penned a letter calling on the state to give the city more power to enforce illegal cannabis.
Last week, 29 councilmembers, including members from both the Progressive Caucus and right-leaning Common Sense Caucus, signed the letter addressed to state leaders looking for more local authority to pass regulations on closing down illegal cannabis shops, which number in the thousands.
The members called for “new authority for the City Council to enact a civil structure to impose financial penalties and issue closure orders where unlicensed sales are taking place.”
Currently, the State Cannabis Law does not allow individual municipalities to enact cannabis enforcement laws. Although much has been said about giving cities the power, the conversation has centered around law enforcement getting the power, and not the Council and other agencies.
“The city is not allowed to close any of the cannabis shops without input from the state cannabis office,” said Queens Council Member Lynn Schulman. “So, what this letter is doing is asking for us to have direct enforcement capabilities without having to go through the state.”
“It is honestly the only way we're going to be able to close them up,” she added.
The members argue that city agencies like the Sheriff's Department and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection already police illegal smoke shops via inspections, and should be able to take stronger enforcement actions currently only enjoyed by the state.
“Limiting enforcement to police and courts excludes thousands of city employees who already regulate unlicensed activity and unsafe products,” said Manhattan Councilmember Gale Brewer.
While giving municipalities weed enforcement capabilities has been talked about – and supported – recently by Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, the councilmembers want to ensure that the Council still has the ability to have a say in what that shifting enforcement may look like.
“Any amendment to the State Cannabis Law that expands the role of law enforcement without also authorizing the City Council to enact a civil enforcement structure will be incomplete,” the letter read.
The undersigners of the letter include Queens elected officials from both sides of the isle, like Progressive Caucus Member Shekar Krishnan and Common Sense Caucus members Vickie Paladino and Bob Holden.
Other Queens signers included Councilmembers Nantasha Williams, Jim Gennaro, Linda Lee and Sandra Ung.
Illegal smoke shops, which the letter said number over 10,000 in the five boroughs, have been a hot topic in the city as the mayor and other elected officials, like Queens Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, have called for city enforcement powers. In February, the governor made her stance clear.
“Let's give the state and localities ways that they can padlock the doors number one, and shut down these flagrant violators,” Hochul said. “Let's start doing that, let's start having some teeth. They can appeal their fines, they can appeal their closure and everybody gets due process. But while that plays out in the courts, they will be shuttered and out of business.”
Hochul’s office and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins’ office did not respond to the Eagle’s requests for comment.
