Aug. 25, 2024 By Ethan Marshall International cannabis operator Curaleaf celebrated the launch of recreational sales at its Queens location in Forest Hills on Friday, July 26. Located at 107-18 70th Rd., the dispensary previously only sold cannabis for medical use. Now, the New York State Office of Cannabis Management is allowing the store also…
Aug. 13, 2024 By Anthony Medina The NYC Sheriff’s Office and NYPD busted two additional illegal smoke shop operations in Rego Park and Maspeth late last month, adding to the hundreds of smoke shops shuttered across the city as part of ‘Operation Padlock to Protect.’ ‘Operation Padlock to Protect,’ a multi-agency task force comprised…
Aug. 2, 2024 By Anthony Medina A targeted operation launched in May to shut down illegal smoke shops has led to the shuttering of over 195 locations in Queens and hundreds more throughout the five boroughs, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced at a press conference in the Bronx Wednesday. The Mayor’s announcement…
Mar. 12, 2024 By Anthony Medina A joint operation between Council Member Robert Holden and New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda has removed thousands of illegal cannabis and tobacco products from three smoke shops in Middle Village. The crackdown on Tuesday, Mar. 5, led to the arrest of three smoke shop employees after investigators found…
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Dec. 21, 2023 By Anthony Medina Advocates for additional lighting in Forest Park turned out in large numbers to plead their case at the Community Board 9 meeting Tuesday night, at the same time nearly a dozen cannabis dispensary applicants waited to see if their businesses would gain board approval. More than 30 park advocates attended the meeting inside Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens, on Dec. 19, in an effort to make the board aware of their struggle to obtain lighting in Forest Park. Pablo Rubio, the executive director of Formativas Barcelona SC – NYC, spoke for the many…
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Oct. 18, 2023 By Iryna Shkurhan As the state is rolling out legal adult-use cannabis with an emphasis on social equity, community boards have been left with a novel responsibility of approving the dispensary applications that are rolling in. At this month’s monthly meeting that congregates the chairs of all 14 community boards in Queens, a frustration with the state’s lack of support in adopting the new responsibility dominated the meeting. All who spoke up at the Oct. 16 meeting in Kew Gardens expressed a need for more structure to deal with the various challenges that are already coming up…
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May. 1, 2023 By Christian Murray
A Queens pol has introduced legislation targeting landlords who knowingly rent space to stores illegally selling cannabis.
Apr. 11, 2023 By Julia Moro Last week, the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) approved licenses for a slew of new Cannabis shops coming to New York City, 18 of which from Queens. Qualifying businesses had to have a cannabis-related offense that occurred prior to the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and…
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Mar. 27, 2023 By Ethan Marshall Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced that New York state’s first woman-owned conditional adult-use retail cannabis dispensary will open in Queens on Thursday. The cannabis shop Good Grades, located at 162-03 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica, is scheduled to open at 2 p.m. on March 30. In addition to being the…
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