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What’s to do about the few remaining illegal smoke shops?
There are not many illegal smoke shops hanging on, but one in particular is making nearby residents crazy: Canal Smoke Shop, on the southeast corner of Canal and Church, has a street bazaar that resembles the counterfeit market on Canal and Broadway, but with unlicensed cannabis sellers instead.
Neighbors were elated when it closed in September, shut down by the sheriff, but it is back in force. “They are selling weed on the street at 7 in the morning, and I had to cross Canal to avoid a fist fight among the group of men that congregate there,” wrote. “Is there anything we can do as citizens to clear out that smoke shop?”
Chris Marte’s office said they will get involved on any of these issues, and will alert the Sherriff’s Office to shut it down — in fact, Marte’s director of public affairs, Simon Kostelanetz, said he would make them aware of this one right away. Contact the office if you have others in mind.
Residents can also report stores themselves at smokeshopcomplaints@sheriff.nyc.gov. or call 311 to report an unlicensed cannabis shop, or report it through this state portal: https://cannabis.ny.gov/report-an-incident
Landlords can also now be fined, which might be a smart way to pursue it.
Of course that leaves the illegal sellers, which will be another matter. I assume they do not have the cannabis on them when they are on the corner? But for sure, selling on the street is still illegal.
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The headline says “few” but I haven’t seen any others. Are there?
There’s City Smoke Shop on the corner of Church and Park Place. They were originally shut down in the local raid, but re-opened a couple of months ago. Not sure if it matters, but they changed their name from Big City Smoke Shop to just City Smoke Shop (tarped over the word Big). Does this have any legal affect?
Are they selling cannabis? There are a number of “smoke shops” in the neighborhood. One is on the east side of Church just above Chambers and it’s been there for years. There are a number of shops like it. They sell supplies for smokers, but not cannabis.
I think this article does not address the problem. The smoke shop is a licensed vape store. It does not sell weed. Its been there since 2016. The problem is that illegal street vendors who are independent of the store and work for them selves covet that corner. They have been selling counterfeit on that corner before there was ever a smoke shop all the way back in the late 1990’s. The problem is since selling weed in the street seems to be unenforceable by the sheriff department and NYPD, the illegal street vendors set up shop in broad daylight selling weed and displaying their goods on fold up tables on the side walk in front of legal smoke shops. The smoke shop was temporally closed by the sheriff’s department but the judge dismissed the case cause no weed was found or sold in the store. Christopher Marte’s office and rest of the city council should let the police to their job by creating new legislation to go after drug dealers selling weed on the street by making it an arrest-able crime and confiscate the weed. Which they are not allowed to do at the current moment. Below is a petition I started trying to address illegal street vending on Canal. The smoke shop is working with the NYPD by giving them real time access to the surveillance cameras that are recording all the activities on the corner.
https://chng.it/YgywVDwLCW
We have an illegal weed shop at the bottom of our coop in FiDi (Nassau and John). It has been raided and closed down 3 times and the landlord keeps opening them back up without regard for anyone except himself and his father who own the commercial space and are desperate for $ despite the chaos the store brings to the neighborhood. The clientele it attracts makes the neighborhood unsafe. The store advertises itself as a “Vape Shop” with nicotine products visible from the outside, but they are selling cannabis products from under the counter. We asked people coming out of the store what they bought. The store has been robbed via broken window glass that we encounter as we walk out the door of our building. Fights have broken out. Joint smoking sessions outside the store on our front porch turn into mini street parties with noise and bad behavior. Why do we have to live this way as people break the law, make $ off it, and the local residents who want to live a responsible life suffer because of it.
Build a wall!
I think New York, both at the state and city level, really needs to tackle the root cause of why these illegal smoke shops are popping up everywhere. Cannabis and tobacco smuggling are clearly out of control, and until we address why these markets are so lucrative, we’ll keep seeing these shops. It’s time for a comprehensive strategy that not only enforces current laws but also looks at how we can undercut the profitability of smuggling through better regulation and legal market support.
The high regressive taxes on tobacco and cannabis in NYC have made legal products prohibitively expensive, severely impacting bodegas, newsstands, and legal dispensaries. This taxation isn’t just hurting these small businesses; it’s fueling an out-of-control black market for smuggled goods. The consequence? A noticeable surge in violent crimes like robberies, shootings, and stabbings targeting these very establishments.
The city and state need to reconsider these tax policies by extinguishing the black markets if they truly want to reduce crime and support local businesses because New York is hemorrhaging about $1 billion annually due to its high regressive taxation on tobacco and cannabis products which is driving bodegas and newsstands that sell legal cigarettes and dispensaries that sell legal marijuana, all out of business because people are increasingly turning to illegal black market sources, like these illegal smoke shops as legal cigarettes can cost up to $20 and legal marijuana can go for $50-$100.
The insane regressive taxation and over-regulation are directly responsible for the explosion of illegal smoke shops and the rampant black market smuggling we’re seeing across the city.
It’s the poor and working-class New Yorkers who are bearing the brunt of this policy, as they either turn to illegal markets or face the financial strain from legal purchases.
It’s far better for New York to tax the rich and big corporations instead of the poor and the working class.