New York City Mayor Eric Adams is touting the progress his office has made in shutting down illegal smoke shops since he launched “Operation Padlock to Protect” last year and announced next steps for re-opening shuttered storefronts as safe, legal businesses.
The program was designed to give the New York City Sheriff’s Office and the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) authority to padlock shops illicitly selling cannabis without a license. Since May 2024, the city said it has shut down nearly 1,400 shops and seized more than $95 million in illegal products from illicit stores.
Now the Adams administration is beginning to work with landlords to re-open previously sealed and vacant stores, allowing them to either apply to operate as a legal cannabis store or a different type of business altogether.
“This time last year, there were thousands of illegal smoke shops plaguing our city with unlicensed cannabis endangering our children. One year later, we are proud to announce that we have turned the tide. Thanks to the tireless efforts by our city’s law enforcement officers, we’ve padlocked thousands of illegal shops and created safer streets for children and families,” said Adams. “But we’re not stopping there. The next step of our plan is to work with property owners to safely and legally re-open their vacant storefronts, replacing illegal smoke shops with pizzerias, bakeries, barber shops, retail stores, and other legal establishments. These businesses will help revitalize neighborhoods and help grow our record number of small businesses even higher. This is what it looks like when government comes together to solve real problems and create a safer, more affordable city for all New Yorkers.”
In addition to closing illegal smoke shops, the Adams administration is helping the legal cannabis industry through the launch of Cannabis NYC, which has already engaged more than 6,000 New Yorkers interested in the cannabis industry.
Legal cannabis sales in New York City topped $350 million last year and 160 legal, adult-use cannabis dispensaries have now opened across the five boroughs as of April 2025. The city's Cannabis NYC Loan Fund — which was launched in October 2024 in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation — has disbursed $500,000 of its initial $2 million tranche to support early-stage cannabis businesses.
To bolster legal cannabis businesses even further and ensure equitable access to capital, the Cannabis NYC Loan Fund provides Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licensees with loans of up to $100,000.
