While most New Yorkers were sound asleep Sunday morning, the NYPD and New York City Sheriff’s Office were hard at work raiding a Bronx store accused of illegally selling cannabis and other drug products.
The July 21 operation turned out to be one of the biggest yet in the city’s ongoing “Operation Padlock to Protect,” launched this past spring to put the kibosh on smoke shops and other vendors across the five boroughs that are selling marijuana without proper licensing. Sunday’s raid in the Bronx led to four arrests, but more importantly, the seizure of more than $10 million in illegal products — including cannabis, psychedelic mushrooms, and other illicit items.
Undoubtedly, there are readers who wonder what all the fuss is about. Recreational marijuana has been legal in New York for close to two years now; why are vendors being shut down for selling a product people want? Why stop people from trying to make a buck?
Simple — the vendors being raided are breaking the law.
They did not follow the protocols that the state government outlined in creating the new legal cannabis economy. They did not bother complying with the various rules and regulations for licensing, and for obtaining, distributing and selling the products they offer. They undermine those legal vendors, many of whom were negatively impacted by marijuana law enforcement in previous years, and are now working to gain prosperity and economic independence previously denied them.
Most importantly, these unlawful vendors put consumers and children at risk every day of serious health problems because the items they sell are often unregulated by the state — their quality and safety seemingly left to chance.
It took far too long for these offenders to finally be brought to justice. No such enforcement apparatus was there when the state legalized recreational marijuana sales in December 2022, and as a result, the city’s burgeoning cannabis market turned into the Wild West — bodegas selling pre-rolls under the counter; vendors hawking hashish out in the open in public parks; and hundreds of brightly decorated “smoke” and “exotic snack” shops sprouting up across the landscape like weeds (pun intended).
Having seen the error of its ways, the state government finally gave New York City this year the home rule to finally crack down on unlawful cannabis dealers. To the Adams administration’s credit, its “Padlock to Protect” program has been effective at putting the illegal dealers out of business, taking harmful products off the street and putting cannabis selling power back in the hands of the legal vendors, where it should have been from the start.
The NYPD and the NYC Sheriff’s Office should be applauded for its efforts, but must stay vigilant to keep the illegal vendors out of commission.
And the public must do its part too; keep reporting illegal cannabis vendors to 311. The city will listen. Your patience will be rewarded.
