Avrohom Posen and Stanley Jutkowitz
Governor Kathy Hochul’s decided efforts to fight unlawful hashish operations in New York have gained much more momentum with a brand new multi-agency initiative approved as a part of the 2024 Finances. The State goals to curtail the sale of untested hashish from unlicensed retailers by way of complete inspections and enforcement actions. Moreover, New York Metropolis Council’s unanimous passing of a brand new invoice now prohibits landlords from knowingly leasing business areas to shops promoting unlicensed marijuana or tobacco merchandise, additional strengthening the crackdown on illicit hashish gross sales.
The Metropolis Council’s laws is meant to offer an important response to the alarming rise of roughly 1,600 unlicensed retailers promoting hashish merchandise throughout the 5 boroughs of NYC. The invoice holds landlords accountable and actively discourages them from renting house to unlicensed retailers. It empowers landlords to evict tenants engaged in unlicensed actions, guaranteeing that illicit hashish and tobacco gross sales aren’t tolerated inside their premises. Beneath this new laws, landlords discovered leasing to unlicensed marijuana and tobacco purveyors will obtain an preliminary warning and will subsequently face steep fines ($5,000 for first offenses and $10,000 for extra violations) in the event that they proceed such rental preparations.
Governor Hochul’s relentless push to crack down on unlawful hashish gross sales has garnered vital legislative help. Latest laws grants the Workplace of Hashish Administration (“OCM”) the ability to impose substantial civil penalties, beginning at $10,000 per day and rising as much as $20,000 per day for probably the most extreme violations. This transfer, at the side of New York Metropolis’s new invoice concentrating on landlords, goals to safeguard public well being, help authorized hashish companies, and set up a regulated market that prioritizes client belief and social fairness.
As New York continues to strengthen its stance in opposition to unlicensed operators, they’re using all obtainable sources to take action, together with the town’s actual property house owners. With the opening of the primary licensed adult-use hashish dispensaries within the Bronx and on Lengthy Island this month, the state is poised to ascertain a thriving and equitable authorized hashish market, guaranteeing that the well being and security of its residents stay a prime precedence.
