At least a dozen trucks in New York selling marijuana were towed by the authorities. The police claim that towing the vehicles was unrelated to cannabis.
New York isn’t officially selling legal marijuana, despite the city crawling with cannabis businesses, from trucks to pop-up shops.
This week, the New York City Sheriff’s office seized about a dozen Weed World Candies trucks, which, as we’ve reported previously, do not sell anything that contains THC, “although customers have reported being told otherwise, and in at least one instance, a spokesperson for the company said their products contain CBD.”
Per NBC New York, the trucks had an outstanding parking debt of $504,000, with a ticket debt in judgement of $316,000. Some of the trucks were towed because of parking debt, while others were parked illegally.
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“This has absolutely nothing to do with marijuana, it only has to do with unpaid debt. Judgement debt, that’s not paid and owed to the city of New York,” said Maureen Kokeas, NYC Deputy Sheriff. “The Department of Finance has communicated with these parties many, many, many times over many years trying to collect this debt, and the debt was ignored — so we went out and took enforcement action.”
New York’s unregulated cannabis market has facilitated much conversation. While cannabis is legal, the city has yet to establish a functioning cannabis market, confusing many. Earlier this month, NYC Mayor Eric Adams made his stance clear, asking people to have fun, light up and spend money.
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“Enjoy yourself, light up, but most importantly, spend some money,” he said at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo at Javits Center in Manhattan. When discussing unlicensed cannabis businesses, Adams said that instead of handing out fines he believed in giving them warnings and helping them transition towards a legitimate business.
Cannabis dispensaries in New York have no official start date yet, but experts predict businesses will be up and running by late this year or early 2023.
