Gale Brewer
Councilmember Gale Brewer continues her crusade against illegal smoke shops, broadcasting her latest takedown on X / Twitter.
Padlocked! Vape and Dispensary at 2442 Broadway (at W. 90th) using the power of tobacco and nicotine laws. Thank you ?@helloDCWP? and ?@NYCSHERIFF? for your ongoing collaboration. pic.twitter.com/Z4uJZDEjL3
— Gale A. Brewer (@galeabrewer) April 25, 2024
“This establishment has been closed for operating illegally,” reads a sign in the window with several bongs visible behind the glass.
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A representative from Brewer’s office tells us this store has been issued at least 26 violations “between January 2022 and July 2023,” and it’s been on their radar for some time now.
As for the implications of being padlocked – i.e., is it ‘toking off’ for good? – the rep told us this:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=”16″]“To get the padlocks off they have to pay their outstanding penalties—a figure you’d have to get from DCWP. If they are caught again they get padlocked again and have to pay the new penalties to get the locks off. While all of this is happening the City and the landlord can bring cases against the retailer to get them out for good.”
[/perfectpullquote]Vape and Dispensary is just one of 55 stores on Brewer’s current list of unlicensed cannabis retailers, which is a very big number, especially compared to the Upper West Side’s one legal cannabis retailer (Flower Power Dispensers at 22 West 66th Street, which we first wrote about in March ahead of its opening).
The number, 55, is also pretty huge compared to 26, which is how many illicit pot shops were reported after the Councilmember’s initial survey in December 2022.
While some of them may have been hiding in plain sight, or just not doing anything illegal on the exact day(s) they were raided, it’s clear that the dark side of the industry continues to blaze past business owners trying to do things the right way.
Here’s a list of every legal weed store in New York State.
Why is Brewer so proud that she closed an illegal drug shop.
There is at least one on every block in NYC.
She is a fraud!!
The people of NY are not as stupid as she thinks
Ok, I’ll take a guess…because it was operating illegally?
In addition to padlocking the retail store front seems building owners who carelessly lease these spaces should also be fined.
Part of the reason for legalization was so that you could regulate it. If you aren’t going to do something about the illegal shops, what’s the point?
Letting illegal weed shops proliferate is also completely unfair to the weed shops that are operating legally.
Those shops are obnoxious and dangerous. They sell to underage kids, flout the laws and undermine the legitimate cannabis industry. Shut them all down.
Shut them all down. What is not mentioned here, and something I have witnessed at the shop on my block, is that may of these stores are also dealing much harder drugs. We cannot allow this to continue to happen in plain sight in our neighborhood!
Save the bodegas. They’re not all bad. I’m glad I got redistricted to Shaun Abreu’s district further north. Hopefully he has better things to do. Meanwhile there still really isn’t a legal shop locally unless you walk down to 66th St, where there’s one. Have fun with your 55 new vacant storefronts.
Is this all worth it?