NYC's fight against unlicensed cannabis sales could be in jeopardy after court ruling, attorney says
NEW YORK – In the past three months, the New York City sheriff and police department have shut down and padlocked nearly 1,000 stores accused of selling cannabis without a license, but an attorney says a court ruling could put the operation in jeopardy.
Earlier this month, a judge allowed a Bayside bodega accused of peddling pot to reopen, poking a hole in Operation Padlock to Protect.
In that case, the sheriff continued to keep the store padlocked even after the summons for selling cannabis was thrown out. The judge ultimately ruled that is unlawful for the sheriff to do so and also went on to say a store accused of selling cannabis without a license may be able to stay open if it can argue its cannabis sales were not a significant part of that business.
The attorney in that case said he believes this ruling could put the entire Padlock to Protect program in jeopardy.
"This will have a profound effect on every store that's been closed previously and going forward," attorney Lance Lazzaro said.
CBS News New York reached out to the sheriff's department and haven't yet heard back. A spokesman for City Hall said it's reviewing that court decision and evaluating their options.
The ruling is giving hope to one store owner, who told CBS News New York's Ali Bauman he was shut down even though the pot police found wasn't for sale.
Bodega owner says shop was padlocked after police found cashier's personal pot stash
"We don't have nothing to hide here you know," bodega owner Abdulatif Ahmed said.
Ahmed's bodega in Jamaica, Queens is open for now, but next week, a judge will decide if it will be closed and padlocked for one year.
"I have family to feed. You shut my business down, you destroy my life," Ahmed said.
In July, the New York City sheriff's department and NYPD raided his bodega in search of cannabis.
It was one of more than 2,000 inspections conducted by the task force since May when Mayor Eric Adams lobbied the state for authority to padlock unlicensed cannabis stores on site. Some of the busts have happened at warehouses and distribution centers, yielding pounds of pot worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But Ahmed claims all they found at his bodega was two packets of pot that belonged to his cashier.
"Were you selling cannabis out of the store?" Bauman asked.
"No ma'am," Ahmed said.
"There's nothing in the law that says we have to have zero tolerance of a product being in a store, OK, and the issue is whether it's being sold to the public," attorney M. Daniel Bach said.
The NYPD said it took about 8 ounces of cannabis and THC vapes from Ahmed's store, as well as tobacco vapes, which he has a license to sell.
Police also took all the cash from Ahmed's register. The NYPD said the money "was vouchered as safekeeping," but Ahmed said they never gave him a voucher, so he doesn't even know how much cash the cops took.
"So how do we claim how much money the police seized that day when they didn't give us a seizure receipt for the cash?" Bach said.
The sheriff slapped him with a $10,000 fine and padlocked his bodega. Ahmed's lawyer was able to temporarily open it until his court hearing at the end of August.
"I've been in this business 15 years. They're gonna come shut us down for stupid stuff like this, not even – sorry my language – you know, for even, I didn't even do anything," Ahmed said.
After the ruling in Bayside, Ahmed's chances of winning his case are better than ever.