Judge rules Operation Padlock unconstitutional, city to appeal
The judge found that the sheriff's ability to override the hearing's recommendations violated the shop's due process and that it should be able to open up again.
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A judge ruled Tuesday that a local law behind the operation shutting down illegal smoke shops in the city is unconstitutional.
A Queens shop filed the lawsuit, claiming that after the NYC Sheriff's office shut them down for selling marijuana illegally – a hearing found that they should be allowed to reopen – yet the sheriff kept them closed.
The judge found that the sheriff's ability to override the hearing's recommendations violated the shop's due process and that it should be able to open up again.
The city's Office of Cannabis Management declined to comment on the ruling.
A City Hall spokesman sent News 12 a statement:
"Illegal smoke shops and their dangerous products endanger young New Yorkers and our quality of life, and we continue to padlock illicit storefronts and protect communities from the health and safety dangers posed by illegal operators. To date, through ‘Operation Padlock to Protect,’ we have shut down over 1,200 illegal shops and seized over $82 million in illegal products that, for too long, have put people at risk. The Law Department has filed a notice of appeal on this case."
"We should not be giving businesses like these another chance, a bodega will sell weed to a child," said Aoife Mooney, who lives above Boutique NYC in Bushwick - one of the hundreds of businesses closed by Operation Padlock.
Mooney says she owns a legal weed business and saw first-hand the safety precautions that licensed shops had to go through. She tells News 12 she believes allowing businesses to come back after being padlocked encourages people to not follow the law.
"The legal businesses give back, and they actually have to follow the safety guidelines to make sure people are getting a safe product," she said.
News 12 reported in August that 199 stores were shuttered in the Bronx. In Brooklyn, 223 storefronts were shut down.
