NY Gov. Kathy Hochul, NYC Mayor Eric Adams take victory lap on smoke shops crackdown — but enforcement hasn’t even started yet

They’re planning to smoke out the bad guys.

Taking a somewhat premature victory lap Friday, Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams pledged to use a newly passed state law to crack down on what they call a “scourge” of illicit pot shops across the state.

“Enforcement will start immediately,” Hochul promised.

Adams and other municipal leaders had begged Albany for new powers this year to allow local cops to shut down hundreds of stores which brazenly sell cannabis without a license.

“This is not a step backwards, this is a step forward to make sure we have legal cannabis shops,” Adams said after posing for a pic with Hochul.

Amongst the package of legislation cracking down on the illicit pot shops, cops will be able to carry out a number of actions.

These include being able to:

• Pursue a civil order to shutter a store believed to be selling cannabis products without a license.
• Conduct inspections of suspected illegal pot shops.
• Penalize a retailer between $100-$10,000 per day, totaling up to $25,000 for selling cannabis without a license.
• Seal the storefront of a shop.
• Fine a landlord up to $50,000.
• Strip a shop of its tobacco, lottery and liquor licenses if it’s found to be illegally distributing cannabis.

Hochul said the measures will “restore stability and order” and snuck in a couple of puns, saying they will “weed out the illegitimate shops,” so state and city licensed stores can “grow their budding businesses and realize their dreams.”

She was flanked at the event by Adams, Councilwoman Gale Brewer and New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda.

Miranda has played a major role in Adams’ attempts to crack down on the shops to date by conducting raids of illicit shops. However, those efforts were largely fruitless because state law prevented them from padlocking the stores after a raid, allowing them to quickly turn around and open up shop again.

“We are going to be operational immediately as soon as they cross their Ts and dot their Is. When the ink is finalized on this bill we are operational with all the resources to shut these illegal stores,” Miranda told the Post in a statement.

The new measures were passed by both chambers of the state legislature Thursday, and are expected to be signed into law as part of the state budget in the coming days.

“We are getting it done. Legalization is about following the law, not breaking the law, and today, we’ve taken an important step forward in supporting the legal cannabis market,” Adams promised.