Weed-For-All Free-For-All To End With New Joint Effort, NYC Declares

NEW YORK CITY — The weed-for-all free-for-all stops now, according to New York City officials who announced Tuesday their "joint efforts."

Four smoke shops accused of selling weed without a license face civil lawsuits from the city and more than 400 others received written warnings to cut the cannabis shenanigans, Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.

“Legalizing cannabis was a major step forward for equity and justice,” said Adams. "But we’re not going to take two steps back by letting illegal smoke shops take over this emerging market."

The four downtown smoke shops that now face civil charges each sold cannabis to underage undercover "auxiliary officers" in New York's Ninth Precinct, according to officials and court records.

One such sting took place at Sogie Mart Rolls & Puff at 24 Avenue A, where an underage age cop bought pre-rolled cannabis (also known as a"blunt" or "joint" the lawsuit notes) for $25 on Dec. 22, the city claims in its civil suit.

The other three shops facing lawsuits are Runtz Tobacco at 14 First Ave., Broadway at 736 Broadway and Saint Marks Convenience & Smoke Shop at Th, officials said.

No one answered the phone at Runtz and Patch was unable to locate contact information for the other three businesses.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office 400 missives warn other smoke shops they could face eviction should they been caught selling cannabis without a license.

Bragg's office will continue to investigate the unlicensed sale of cannabis and, when found, ask landlords to pursue evictions, as the city's Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law requires, the district attorney said.

"It’s time for the operation of unlicensed cannabis dispensaries to end,” said Bragg.

“Just as we don’t allow endless unlicensed bars and liquor stores to open on every corner, we cannot allow that for cannabis."