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Alto Canna dispensary caught in bureaucratic snag
Alto Canna, the cannabis dispensary that opened in summer 2024 on Chambers, is caught in a bureaucratic snag that claims the storefront violates the state’s rules about location.
The Office of Cannabis Management announced that 89 retail dispensary locations in the city are out of compliance with the state’s proximity rule, which prohibits operation within 500 feet of school grounds. (It seems odd, since Community Board 1 in its review of cannabis licenses was very careful about this rule in particular.) (I saw the story first in amNY.)
The governor has promised that they do not have to shut down…yet. The state office said all licensees impacted by the proximity correction can continue to operate fully while the determination is pending.
The problem is in the method of measuring: under a stricter interpretation of the 2021 Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, “OCM is now measuring the distance as a straight line from the dispensary’s main entrance to the nearest school property line,” amNY said. Before, both licensees and CB1 were measuring the distance as if you walked there.
More when the office makes its determination.
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Hopefully they won’t have to move! It’s such a shame that a business does everything right to comply with all laws etc (and provides wonderful, friendly service) and may have to incur so much cost to move based upon a technicality that the government got wrong!
Oh no! I would hate to see the place that keeps all of the Fresh Direct drivers and Starbucks employees in a state of utter confusion go out of business. They should definitely be allowed to be located as close to underage kids as possible to expose them to that sweet, sweet smell and start them early.
Seriously, this whole endeavor has been a ridiculous disaster. Take a few mins walk North to Canal street to see the free-for-all drug market that legalization has created.
No tears here.
The 311 app now has a specific button that lets you report issues with cannabis stores (e.g. – proximity issues, sales of illegal product outside, suspicious activity, etc.). Note also that Canal Smoke Shop (at Canal and Church) is definitely within 200 feet of the house of worship across the street (Chabad of SoHo). It should never have been approved as it clearly violates the proximity statute.
That is not a legal or approved cannabis store.
I would be glad if all of them were ruled “out of compliance” and shut down (with exceptions for medical applications). Or at least if smoking it were restricted to certain designated areas. The pollution even gets into our apartment, even if windows are closed. The entire city smells like skunk, and the rest of us are forced to breathe that second-hand neurotoxin.
It would be a shame if they are forced to close especially as they followed all the rules. Alto is a great neighborhood business (legal, safe, professional, etc.) welcomed by many.
it was totally fine for the patriot to be here, exact same proximity to the exact same schools, but alto canna has to go? they might as well just become a bar again, because apparently that’s fine. i hear they have the pool tables upstairs still, maybe they kept the classy chandeliers as well