Assemblyman John Zaccaro Town Hall Meeting on Smoke Shops
By Robert Press
Wednesday night at Bronx House on Pelham Parkway South Assemblyman John Zaccaro Jr. hosted a Town Hall meeting on Smoke Shops featuring Mr. Chris Alexander of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), Sheriff Anthony Miranda, Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez, a representative of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), and a brief speech by 49 Precinct commanding officer Deputy Inspector Gareth Kentish who spoke at the beginning of the Town Hall as he had a nearby 49th Precinct Council meeting to attend while the Town Hall was going on.
Assemblyman Zaccaro spoke about illegal smoke shops and targeted inspections in his 80th Assembly District going through the various illegal products that were confiscated and thousands of dollars in fines that were given. Councilwoman Velazquez spoke about what the sheriff can do then the representative from DCWP said that DCWP gives licenses to smoke shops as part of the forty thousand businesses, and if any illegal products are being sold to call 311. Sheriff Miranda said that he is appointed by the mayor, and his office does more than just inspect smoke shops. They work with different city agencies, have done fifty inspections in the 80th Assembly District already and over one thousand in the Bronx collecting thirty-six million dollars in fines.
Chris Alexander is the Inaugural Executive Director of OCM having been appointed in September by Governor Hochul. He said by legalizing Cannabis (Marijuana) it was a way to bring the legal product to the market under strict regulations and tax revenues for the state. Other states are having problem in the enforcement of illegal cannabis from stores, but he goes out on raids as it is the Office of Cannabi Management and the State Taxation Department who can check on illegal cannabis stores. He said it has been a long tedious process not as effective as the state legislature had wanted, and that OCM is going back to the legislature for tougher regulations. The sheriff can only check for tax stamps on cigarettes, and if untaxed cigarettes are found only then can the sheriff investigate the rest of the store for more untaxed cigarettes or any other illegal products.
Questions were placed on cards and read by Assemblyman Zaccaro which included the timeframe community boards have on commenting on new legal Cannabis stores in their community board district. Mr Alexander of OCM said that boards have up to sixty days to submit their comments, adding no new Cannabis stores will open before January 2024. He said current regulations state a Cannabis store must be two-hundred feet from a house of worship, five-hundred feet from a school, and one thousand feet from another legal Cannabis store.
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