The Cannabis Crackdown Begins

Even among people who support legal cannabis, it’s pretty widely accepted that our streets now have too many weed shops, many of them operating outside the law. Since Albany relaxed prohibitions on recreational pot in 2021, bright-green stores aglow in LEDs have filled a vast amount of the city’s underoccupied retail real estate. There are 57 legal weed shops in New York now and, by one estimate, about 2,900 illegal ones.

Until the first week of May, that is, when 75 of the latter group were shut down. It’s the start of a big sweep: “Operation Padlock to Protect,” an effort among the NYPD, the city sheriff’s office, and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection that has been heavily championed by Mayor Eric Adams. The first raids, says the NYPD, were aimed at the flagrant scofflaws: shops near schools and houses of worship, those reportedly selling to underage buyers, those (according to law enforcement) that have sold people products that made them sick. It’s a big play, aiming to get as many of these businesses as possible closed within 30 days.

The raid seen here took place at New City Smoke Shop on the corner of Park Place and Church Street. Adams gave a press conference a block away in City Hall as it played out, livestreaming the sheriff, Anthony Miranda, for color commentary. Photographer Luiz C. Ribeiro hadn’t intended to be on the scene — he was at the press conference and then bolted around the corner to catch the action. The owner was handcuffed and put in a police car, Ribeiro says, and couldn’t put up much of a fight because “there were maybe 15 cops around.” That was on May 7. Ten days later, most of New City’s stock was still on the shelves, but the doors remained chained and padlocked, right next to the open 24 hours sign.