NY Bill Cracking Down on Bootleg Weed Shops’ Booze and Smoke Licenses

Yo, peep this – a New York state lawmaker is straight up proposing some new laws that would let the big dogs come through and snatch up the liquor, lottery, and tobacco licenses from stores slangin’ weed without the proper papers. If this goes down, it’s gonna be a game-changer, givin’ officials some fresh tools to take down them sketchy pot shops that been poppin’ up like crazy ever since New York got down with adult-use cannabis in 2021.

My man John Zaccaro Jr., holdin’ it down for the Bronx, is the main dude pushin’ this legislation in the New York State Assembly. This bill, called A09520, already got 70 other homies co-signin’ after droppin’ last month. Over in the Senate, Senator Jamaal T. Bailey is holdin’ it down with his own version of the bill, S08847, and got 10 of his crew on board too.

The new law would straight up strip licenses from any spot caught sellin’ that loud without the right paperwork. First offense? You lose your license for a year. Second time? Three years off the grid. And if you still ain’t learnin’ your lesson after that? Pack it up for five years, no more liquor, cigs, or lottery for you.

But yo, here’s the deal – New York City been dealin’ with thousands of these unlicensed pot shops runnin’ wild. Mayor Eric Adams just dropped the knowledge that there’s like 2,500 of these spots doin’ their thing without the proper set-up. Meanwhile, only around 40 legit dispensaries been able to open since 2022. It’s a mess out there.

Zaccaro ain’t playin’, sayin’ these bootleg shops are messin’ with the regulated market tryna get off the ground. Most of these spots are just neighborhood smoke shops or corner stores tryna make some extra cash off the green while hurtin’ the businesses playin’ by the rules.

My boy Zaccaro ain’t messin’ around – he told the Daily News he wants this bill to move quick. The city needs to clean up its act and show the people they takin’ this seriously. The clock is ticking though – they already missed an April 1 deadline for budget talks.

The city been tryna shut down these illegal shops for a minute now, but nothin’ seems to stick. The city council got a plan to close ’em down usin’ an old law meant for brothels and other sketchy joints, but it ain’t gone nowhere yet.

Even if this bill passes, it ain’t gonna be easy to enforce. They gonna need to put in mad work and money to make it happen, and right now they strugglin’. Not enough legit spots open means these unlicensed shops got a stronghold on the game.

This bill still gotta pass some committees before it becomes law, so we gonna have to see how it all plays out. But one thing’s for sure – New York ain’t playin’ when it comes to cleanin’ up their weed game.