Crackdown on illegal marijuana sale products results in 8 arrests, 5 shuttered businesses, Suffolk officials say

Five businesses were shut down and eight people were arrested during a crackdown on illegal marijuana sales conducted by Suffolk police and other agencies last week, officials said Tuesday during a news conference in Yaphank.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said 26 of the 44 businesses inspected by authorities between May 20 and May 22 were selling flowers, vapes, cookies and other cannabis products, even though they lacked a New York State license to sell recreational marijuana.

Most of the businesses were issued notices of violation and ordered to cease and desist, Catalina said, but five were closed due to multiple violations. Seven people were charged with unlicensed sale of cannabis, while an employee at a St. James store was charged with failure to display a New York State Liquor Authority license.

"The message is if you are selling marijuana illegally without a state license, we are going to catch you, we are going to seize all your products and confiscate them, probably burn them," Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said during the news conference at Suffolk police headquarters.

"We are not going to allow the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops in our county," Romaine added.

Authorities seized more than 15,000 products containing THC — the main psychoactive compound in cannabis — during the crackdown. Scores of cannabis products — many in brightly colored packages officials said are designed to appeal to children — were on display in the Suffolk police press briefing room, and a heavy, skunky aroma hung in the air.

"They are targeting our kids," Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said. "That is what is so sad to see."

Twelve William Floyd Middle School students became ill after consuming cannabis gummies in March, and most had to be hospitalized. A suspect linked to the March illnesses was charged with two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance to an undercover police officer following the execution of a search warrant on Tuesday, Catalina said.

New York lawmakers legalized the recreational consumption of marijuana in 2021, and there are now 391 legal dispensaries across the state, according to the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. The operators of numerous bodegas, gas stations, smoke shops and other businesses also took advantage of the change in law to sell marijuana products — even though they did not go through the costly and time-consuming process to obtain licenses from state regulators, officials said.

Products sold by unlicensed retailers, officials said, could contain contaminants that pose health risks to consumers. "This just isn’t about legality," Suffolk Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said. "It’s about safety. Products sold outside of regulated channels can be dangerous and untested."

Catalina said authorities chose the 44 businesses that were inspected during the crackdown because those shops had been the targets of complaints from the community. Law enforcement agencies worked with code-enforcement teams from Islip, Babylon and Brookhaven, who cited some of the businesses for fire and zoning violations.

Illicit marijuana retailers are also often involved in other criminal activity, according to Catalina. Officials who inspected Vape Guru Smoke Shop in Bay Shore found illegal fireworks in addition to nearly 200 cannabis products, he said. A man who answered the phone at Vape Guru declined to comment.