Marijuana

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 10.31.2024 9:30 AM

Let the weed bodegas be! A recent crackdown by New York City authorities on stores selling marijuana without a license led to the shutdown of more 1,100 businesses. Now, a state judge is telling authorities not so fast.

Operation Padlock to Protect—the New York City policy used to justify the shutdowns—is unconstitutional, per New York Supreme Court Justice Kevin Kerrigan. (In New York, the state's highest court is called the Court of Appeals; Supreme Courts are trial courts that hear criminal and civil cases.)

The policy, adopted last spring, allowed the city sheriff to inspect any business selling cannabis or cannabis products without a proper registration, license, or permit to do so, and to "execute and order the sealing of certain places of business where such conduct continues after an inspection has revealed violations, or where such conduct poses an imminent threat to public health, safety, and welfare."

Owners of shuttered businesses can request a hearing with the city's Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH), which will make a recommendation about whether the business should be allowed to reopen. "But the ultimate decision is up to the sheriff — and lawyers representing businesses that have been shut down say it's not uncommon for the sheriff to ignore OATH's recommendations," notes the Gothamist.

This is the situation that a store called Cloud Corner found itself in. The Queens-based store was accused of illegally selling marijuana and shut down in September. After a hearing, an OATH officer recommended that the store should be allowed to reopen. But city sheriff Anthony Miranda declined to follow this recommendation and ordered the store closed for one year.

Cloud Corner sued, alleging that due process had been violated.

Justice Kerrigan agreed that there were "clear" due process........

© Reason.com