CITY POL POT PLAN

Bid to KO sprouting illegal shops

City Council members are pushing legislation to make it easier to padlock the hordes of unlicensed pot shops that are choking neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs.

The measure, being introduced by Councilman Keith Powers (D-Manhattan), would specifically target illicit cannabis sales for enforcement under the nuisance-abatement law.

“We want to pass this nuisance law as soon as possible. There’s very little enforcement going on,” said Powers, whose district covers much of the Upper East Side.

“This amendment to the public-nuisance law will provide a much quicker way to shut these unlicensed shops down.”

The bill would also create a new category of public nuisance for selling to anyone under 21.

Powers noted that lawmakers and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio amended the public-nuisance regulations in 2015 to make it easier to crack down on smoke shops selling synthetic weed known as K2.

11 licensed in NYC

A state Senate hearing on Monday about the budding legal cannabis industry revealed the number of unlicensed pot shops has spiraled out of control.

State legislators and thenGov. Andrew Cuomo approved the law legalizing the recreational sale of marijuana in 2021 without adequately addressing enforcement, critics said.

Earlier this year, Gov. Hochul and the Legislature approved a law boosting fines of up to $20,000 a day as part of a belated crackdown. The state Office of Cannabis Management and the Tax Department were given more authority to inspect and close down shops.

Also, a city law approved this year allows authorities to go after Big Apple landlords who rent store space to illegal weed or tobacco sellers. Landlords face initial fines of $5,000, and $10,000 thereafter.

Mayor Adams and City Sheriff Anthony Miranda estimated there are as many as 1,500 illicit pot shops in the Big Apple.

But only 26 licensed cannabis shops have opened statewide — just 11 in New York City — under the state’s rocky rollout.

The slow pace has given illegal peddlers ample time to establish a big foothold — by setting up unlicensed shops that mostly do business in cash and don’t pay cannabis taxes that licensed weed dispensaries must pay.

A few have even brazenly opened up across from City Hall and the Queens civic hub that incudes the district attorney’s office, Borough Hall and state Supreme Court.

Police action

Powers said he wants city authorities — the NYPD and the sheriff ’s office — to take on a bigger enforcement role, saying state agencies don’t have the manpower and resources to put a dent in the illicit market in Gotham.

He noted that Council members Eric Botcher, Gale Brewer, Julie Menin and Chris Marte of Manhattan have signed on as co-sponsors, along with Oswald Feliz of The Bronx and Lynn Schulman of Queens.