Over 100 unlicensed weed shops go up in smoke

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that her administration has shut down hundreds of unlicensed, illegal cannabis stores. This after her May overhaul at the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), which included the launch of the Cannabis Enforcement Task Force.

“How do the legal businesses thrive if the illegal ones are locked out of the market?” Hochul asked the crowd at a press conference Tuesday morning. To that end, she said that the task force has already closed 114 stores. A spokesperson from Hochul’s office confirmed that none of them were in New York City and that OCM plans to release a list of those locations in the coming weeks.

Without these black market outfits, Hochul highlighted an apparent surge in sales for legal shops. She explained that licensed retailers reported a 27% increase month-over-month from May to June—nearly seven times the previous rate. She also said that the 114 tally stacks with almost 400 other closed, unlicensed retailers.

The Task Force coordinates staff from several government agencies—among them state police, OCM, the Department of Taxation and Finance, and local law enforcement—to target illegal suppliers, deploying investigators and analysts across the state. Hochul said they work with landlords to evict illegal dispensaries and penalize those who knowingly rent to unlicensed retailers or who don’t evict them.

According to Hochul, state police are leading the effort to nab criminal traffickers that supply the unlicensed shops. And OCM said they’ve seized over $29 million in illegal products or substances from those hundreds of closed stores.

As of Tuesday, 135 legal dispensaries operate legally in New York. The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act was signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 31, 2021.