The Daily News supported the legalization of cannabis, but the way the State of New York has gone about it seems that they are intentionally trying to sabotage the reform.
It is infuriating that more than two years since marijuana became legal on March 31, 2021, that there are only 15 legit pot shops in the state, and just seven of them in the city of 8 million people. In Brooklyn, the biggest county in the Eastern time zone, there are zero, likewise for Staten Island. There are one each in Queens and the Bronx and all five in Manhattan are downtown within a 10-minute walk of each other. Is that Albany’s idea of the Pot District?
But don’t worry, there are plenty of places to buy pot. It’s available on every corner, sometimes with several illegals on a corner or via a van or two parked on the street.
The cops have estimated that there are 1,700 illegals in the city, but someone who knows this situation extremely well puts the real number closer to 4,000 illegals. That certainly seems right about walking around the Lower East Side. Why the big disparity in the numbers? It may be that the cops only counted the smoke shops, preexisting ones that started selling pot and new ones. But there are plenty of bodegas and other small markets illegally peddling pot.
Last week, once again, they called in the press in to watch a raid, reminiscent of a scene early in the 1980s film, “The Untouchables,” when Eliot Ness came up empty chasing Al Capone’s rum running. Back here in real life, the next day the illegal pot shops reopen, only without the officials and cameras present.
This Keystone Kops approach isn’t funny. Since you can’t sell booze without a license, try opening up a sidewalk lemonade stand that also sells whiskey. It would last about 10 minutes.
While the legal shops remain rare, new illegals keep popping up. Buy some really strong padlocks and seal these places tight.
H/T: www.nydailynews.com
