According to the New York Post there are currently 222 licensed cannabis shops open in New York City but there may be thousands of illegal ones. A study by Whitney Economics recently found that only 15% of the city’s cannabis sales are through the legal market and that the ‘Empire State’ could sustain 1,250 to 1,350 more licensed stores if 85% of customer sales were made legally.

This had prompted a major clampdown by NYC on the ‘grey zone’ of unlicensed cannabis operators. However, in a surprise move on 30 October 2024, Judge Kevin J. Kerrigan ruled that the mandate, which grants the City Sheriff’s Office authority to keep illicit cannabis sellers shuttered after they’ve been raided, violates the store owners’ rights to due process.

420 Intel reports that Judge Kerrigan wrote that the sheriff’s adjudicative power, which leaves store owners helpless regardless of evidence and administrative court rulings, “stands against the cornerstone of American democracy and procedural due process,”

The city has used the sherriff’s power to back its enforcement push — Mayor Eric Adams’ vaunted “Operation Padlock To Protect,” which officials say has resulted in more than 1,200 shops being shuttered.

Shop owners are able to appeal their closures in administrative courts, but under the law, the sheriff has the final call to determine which raided stores can stay open and which must remain closed for up to a year.

“Summarily shuttering a business for one year. Despite the fact that it was exonerated from allegations of illegal activity stands against the cornerstone of American democracy and procedural due process,” the decision reads.

“This decision validates what we have been arguing since this statute was enacted. Mayor Adams, the City Council, and the Sheriff have violated the due process rights of every store owner that has been shutdown by the NYC Sheriff’s office,” said attorney Lance Lazzaro.

Lazzaro, who represents Cloud Corner, a Queens shop shut down on allegations of selling weed without a license last month, predicted the ruling — which calls for his client’s store to reopen — could allow others targeted in Operation Padlock to sue for “astronomical damages.”

“The City of New York should be ashamed for allowing this process to happen in the first place,” Lazarro said.

“How would Mayor Adams feel if his due process rights were violated in his pending criminal matter?”

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