Fines
I have always been fascinated with fines. Everyone has a different pain level, which comes with a different reality—in the cannabis world, working with the plant and getting caught is used to end people in jail, but no more. Now, there are fines.
The illegal stores, who get fined, seem to open the following day. There are multiple opportunities to fine these stores, from landlords to the products, not having the license and more. The issue is what laws are in place to get something done.
Closing the stores has been under the purview of the Office of Cannabis Management. Recently, Eric Adams was able to take some control. His administration sent letters to over 50 landlords, stating they could be held legally liable for the cannabis leases issued to tenants. I applaud their efforts. They should also be going after landlords that have mortgages on their properties because banks want nothing to do with cannabis….yet.
I hope more of this will happen in the days and months ahead. Here is the thing: what’s up with the “an injunction and penalties up to $1,000 a day”? Why don’t they fine the landlords, and the tenants, up to $20k a day? We would see many being offensive instead of defensive. If you know that you were leasing to an illegal dispensary and if found out you could start getting pinged $20K a day, would you not put the tenant out on the streets? $20k a day can eat into profits very quick.
I applaud the movement happening in attempting to close down the illegal shops but the pressure must come from multiple outlets in Government including huge draw-dropping, we mean business, fines.