Sheriff Miranda: Over 1,300 Illegal Cannabis Shops Have Been Shuttered During Crackdown

Sheriff Anthony Miranda said that nearly 1,300 shops with illegal cannabis products have been shut down since May when a joint task force began a citywide crackdown.

“Operation Padlock to Protect has been able to shut down illegal shops and unlicensed cannabis dispensaries in every city district,” Miranda said during a City Council committee hearing on Sept. 17.

But there are still some glaring holes in the crackdown effort. While it has levied $104 million in fines, only about $200,000 in those fines have been collected.

City Council Member Gale Brewer who represents a district on the UWS has been outspoken in her push to rid the city of illegal smoke shops, especially those near schools. The city council hearing involved the operations committee chaired by Brewer and the finance committee chaired by Justin Brannan whose Brooklyn district includes Bay Ridge, Coney Island, Sea Gate and parts of Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Gravesend.

“The illegal shops are dangerous,” Brewer said at the hearing. “They are a blight on New York City that contribute to the sense of lawlessness that has permeated since the pandemic.”

Brewer noted that the state legislature did not pass measures enabling local law enforcement to crack down on the illegal weed stores until May of this year.

“Since then, enforcement teams led by the New York City Sheriff have inspected approximately 3,000 stores and padlocked about 1,000. There is no question that the situation has improved in Manhattan. Thank you, Sheriff Miranda, for your efforts.”

She also questioned why $104 million in fines have been assessed, but only about $200,000 in fines have been collected.

“The increased fines are meant as a deterrent,” Miranda said. “By and large, shops that are padlocked go out of business, and it is very difficult to collect fines from often untraceable LLCs that are no longer in operation,” Miranda said.

Miranda also noted his office doesn’t have the legal power to collect on fines until at least 120 days after they’ve been issued, and there are a number of ways the shops can evade such deadlines, via extension requests or other legal means.

“The sheriff’s office is working around the clock to inspect unlicensed stores in the city,” Miranda said.

State laws were changed to give greater enforcement power to law enforcement. A task force involving the NYPD, the Sheriff’s office and the Office of Consumer and Worker Protection began a major crackdown effort in late May and “are inspecting hundreds of locations,” per week Miranda told the council. “This is only the beginning. The operation will continue to change and expand as the industry continues to evolve.”

There are currently only about 78 legal cannabis stores across the five boroughs, according to the Office of Cannabis Management, but most sources peg the number of illegal weed shops at 3,000. Some critics say the real number if far higher.

In an interview on the steps of City Hall following the testimony, Miranda explained. “There were 1,078 shops that were sealed.” But that is not the sole way to rid the city of shops selling illegal cannabis products. Since the sheriff’s office began teaming up with the NYPD and the Office of Consumer and Worker Protection as part of a crackdown, he said there were also 274 shops that were ordered to vacate their premises; 138 shops that were turned back to landlords after illegal shops were found to be in operation and 141 shops were warned to change their business and stop selling illegal cannabis products or risk fines upon reinspection.

He said the shops ordered to change their business were generally not exclusively selling illegal cannabis as their main business, but were found to have some illegal products on their shelves.

He said stores that were selling some banned cannabis items but were not primarily weed shops, were given a warning and would be revisited within ten days.