By Ed Hersh
Ambiguities in the regulations governing New York State’s rollout of licensed marijuana dispensaries continue to cause confusion and concern all over the city, and the Upper West Side is no exception.
As we’ve been chronicling in the West Side Rag, unlicensed “smoke shops” — many of which have been observed to be illegally selling marijuana — have popped up since the possession and use of marijuana were legalized last year.
You may have noticed that a so-called “weed truck” has been parked on Broadway, between West 83rd and West 84th Streets, brightly painted in orange-and-green, with a menu board that offers a wide range of edible and smoke-able products. Council Member Gale Brewer has also noticed; her spokesperson told us that, just today, she sent a letter to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, which stated:
I have received several complaints about this vehicle, particularly that the branding of the products sold are appealing to target children. This violates Office of Cannabis Management approved regulatory packaging guidelines, including the usage of bright and bold colors, fun fonts, cartoon characters, cereal flavors, and more. Constituents are also concerned that it’s located near a school.
Are the weed trucks themselves legal?
Like so much surrounding the legalization of marijuana in New York State — it’s complicated. According to Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesman for the New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), right now, there are NO legal, non-medical marijuana dispensaries in the state; any smoke shop, convenience store, or truck that is selling marijuana is doing so illegally.
Yet, despite the large number of smoke and convenience shops and weed trucks in New York City alone, to date the OCM has sent out only 52 “cease-and-desist” letters in the entire state, most of them to upstate sellers.
WSR visited the “High Rollerz” truck on July 12th – before Brewer’s letter was written — and spoke to Cardell Speights, its owner. He was happy to talk to WSR about his business; “I’m very transparent,” he said, and claimed that the menu board on his truck represents only hemp and CBD-based products, which, because of their low levels of THC (the hallucinogenic component of marijuana), are legal to sell in New York, and for which, he said, he has a license. He added that he does not sell or offer marijuana.
Of course, there is no way for us to independently verify his claims on the content of what he is selling or how he sells it, or whether marijuana was available.
Even the distinctions between marijuana and hemp-based products (often called “delta-8”) are confusing, as The New York Times reported on Tuesday. “Some early research supports the claim that delta-8 could cause a milder high than traditional marijuana,” The Times wrote. “But because the drug is unregulated, the vast majority of delta-8 products on the market don’t resemble what’s tested in a lab and can be contaminated with other cannabinoids and heavy metals. As a result, many experts advise against its use.”
Speights told us he is doing his best to stay within the law; he said he checks IDs to make sure anyone stepping up to the truck is at least 21 (it’s on his menu board), and parks away from schools, although Brewer’s letter disagrees. He says his incentive is simple: he’s an aspiring entrepreneur and plans to apply for a license to open a legal marijuana dispensary when available. He’s been attending seminars and consulting with attorneys on the process, and wants to have a clean record to do so. In fact, he is critical of the unregulated smoke shops that are opening all over the city. Speights said bluntly, “they are f***king it up for everybody” who wants to transition to a legally operated business.
After numerous complaints, the city HAS cracked down on some of the weed trucks that were concentrated around Times Square, using not marijuana laws, but parking laws. In June, the city’s sheriff’s department impounded several “Weed World” trucks for what it said was more than $500,000 in unpaid parking tickets.
In June, Mayor Eric Adams was quoted in the New York Post as saying “clearly we’re not going to allow illegal sales. These trucks may be falling right below the line, and we just have to continue to monitor, but it is a problem.”
In Brewer’s letter to the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, she requests “that the Office of Cannabis Management immediately conduct enforcement measures at this location,” and also points out that she has received complaints about a similar truck that parks on Broadway between West 95th and 96th Street. “I hope you will also conduct an inspection of this vehicle regarding their sales.”
Meanwhile, according to the state OCM, the regulations for establishing licensed recreational dispensaries won’t be announced until later this year. Until then, Cardell Speights admits, “I’m stepping into very muddy waters.”
As someone who grew up with prohibition the legalization and development of a new market is all fascinating to watch. A lot of this stuff is actually legal like delta 8, delta 10 (yes there’s a difference), HHC, THC-O, CBD, etc. Its delta 9 and real marijuana with higher concentrations of THC that aren’t quite legal, yet. And yes you can get THC at a lot of places around the neighborhood.
But think of all the illegal and dangerous drug transactions that are being avoided.
I live one block away from 104th and Columbus Avenue, which is drug activity on the corners 24/7/365 for the eleven years I’ve lived here. Stop on by, these drug transactions are going strong!
There are a lot of other drugs besides THC to be sold.
I think that’s the point: these trucks and smoke shops are currently all selling illegally… they are not licensed to sell THC and there’s no quality control. They don’t pay taxes and no revenue goes to the state… the legal system of dispensaries not yet established.
The non-stop degeneracy of America. Let’s see how low NYC can go.
Oh please. 🙄
Please. Ridiculous.
Obviously you don’t live in NYC.
People concerned about illegal or borderline weed sales are swimming upstream. The City and State are desperate for tax revenue. Full stop.
What about crack? Also heroin being sold and used all over upstate. Especially them! Very addictive. Being on that will make you steal, rob and kill. You’re worrying about the wrong stuff.
Yeah, illegal sales are contributing so much to the tax revenue…
NYS get with it. don’t u need the revenue? Everyone is smoking weed
anyway. Everyone.
Thankfully not everyone
Yes but with all due respect but enough people are so it’s a reality you can’t look the other way anymore even if you don’t smoke and are anti recreational use .
While there are good reasons for legalizing or tolerating marijuana (prohibition analogy; over-incarceration of minorities, etc.), I do wish people would also focus on the fact that that does not make “weed” a good thing in any way. It’s still a dangerous, destructive drug, one that has become more powerful and more psychotropic over the past 30 years. It’s not a good thing. It is very bad for a lot of people. Many suffer permanent damage from it, in no way eclipsed by the fact that it may also help the occasional cancer patient. It should not be encouraged. Young people should stay away, just as much as when it was illegal. (And it stinks when smoked in public on the streets.)
Teach them and they won’t go near it!
THANK YOU. I agree with you wholeheartedly. It is bad for you; often leads to addiction (I have seen it, and the destructive fall-out–it can destroy relationships and destroy lives). And the streets reek. It should, at the very least, be restricted just as cigarette smoking is in public places.
Just FYI – It is restricted just like cigarette smoking is in public places. The same restrictions apply. Whether or not people follow those rules is a whole different story unfortunately. But you can smoke cigarettes/marijuana on streets even under those restrictions.
So the argument for legalizing and tolerating into mass use something “destructive,” “dangerous,” “very bad”, “permanent[ly] damag[ing]” is …what exactly?
Lots of things that are fully legal are “very bad for a lot of people”. Grow up and go touch grass.
That is total BS. Marijuana does not make your brain change, alcohol does. If your logic on Weed is true, then Big Steve Parish, Willie Nelson, and Snoop Dogg would all be non functional, unsuccessful, and generally worthless and dependent on others in their lives. You should be so glad and grateful to have more people puffing stinky grass than drinking deadly alcohol. How many wife beaters are pot heads? Keep the weed revolution going NYC/UWS!!!!
Of course it alters the brain. Why else would anyone use it?
If your logic on alcohol (or weed, for that matter) were true, then Van Gogh, Hemingway, Ul. Grant, Winston Churchill, etc. would all be wife beaters, generally worthless….
Google is your friend
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/research-reports/marijuana/what-are-marijuanas-long-term-effects-brain
I’m confused. This truck has a sign saying it has $30 pre-rolls, and he’s saying they’re not marijuana? Plus the strains listed there — Ice Cream Cake, etc. — are marijuana strains with THC. Wedding Pie is listed as having a 26% THC content on the sources I’m looking at. I mean maybe his sign lists products he doesn’t sell, but… that sign lists products with THC.
Which, you know, I’m not against smoking weed. Smoke em if you got ‘em (just not around kids). But I find it hard to believe this dude isn’t selling it.
Continue to be confused! What is it to you? Like I said: Kids smell weed, and cigarettes all the time. Everyday! They definitely smell alcohol.. See people drunk and using profanity everyday. All of those Bars in the neighborhood.
You’re worried about… profanity?
But seriously, don’t smoke around kids. Just common courtesy. True for cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and joints. There are millions of places in the city to smoke where you won’t bother kids — so it takes a special kind of person to demand the right to do it beside a playground.
Everyone of you who smoke marijuana are doing it around children. Because it’s legal!
I’m not a customer but I think it’s a good addition to the neighborhood. Why not normalize it? One block over, on Amsterdam, you can’t swing an empty keg without hitting a bar and cigarettes are sold in pharmacies!
It is a nuisance and attracts kids and there’s no way he is checking IDs. The truck reeks of weed. I don’t need it around my teenagers.
This is just awful. More crimes and assaults to go through the roof.
Assertion without evidence
Re: “…she sent a letter to the state’s OFFICE OF CANNABIS MANAGEMENT….”
Wow, who knew? Welcome OoCM, and here’s hoping that you are as effective and user-friendly as that other NYS gem, the DMV !
Is there a legal definition of “near a school”? I would not call this location “near a school.” Both the high school (85th St.) and the elementary school (84th) are between Columbus and Amsterdam. Surely some students will walk by that truck on their way to and from school, but does that mean it is “near a school”?
The law for alcohol is you cant have an establishment that sells liquor within 200 feet (door to door) of a school or place of worship. The same will be true more than likely when the regulations are finally released by the OCM.
Calhoun and Mickey Mantle are around the corner on west end.
On the bus recently was shocked at the number of those trucks in the Times Square area. I find it hard to believe that they’re not selling real weed.
I’m so happy to be able to purchase from the truck. I have a marijuana card. I go to these dispensaries and spend a lot of money. I still have pain. It’s to the point that the tramadol that is prescribed by my doctor. Which I have been on for 7 years. It don’t do anything for me. I be in so much pain. I’m grateful for this truck. This man is a entrepreneur. He’s brilliant! One day he will have his own dispensary. He’s not hurting anyone. He’s a father himself. He loves children. He will never sale to children. These smoke shops will. They sell loose cigarettes and weed all the time to minors. I see it everyday. Why are you worrying about trucks. Stop these guns coming in. How about innocent people getting shot and killed. What about Rikers Island. Inmates using drugs inside there. Inmates dying. 11 to be exact. Innocent people going to jail. The homeless people. also. Why worry about something legal. Worry about the un legal. Not only the un legal drugs. What about the Un legal people. .
I think the main danger here is where does it come from? Were pesticides used? Find and support a local organic farmer for everything you plan to ingest
I love what “high rollerz” are doing for the community! stop the bad slander these guys are not braking any laws & let me say I’ve lived here for years no schools near or on 83rd Broadway… light up!
What is the state going to legalize next, prostitution?, heroin?
People partaking in something they are doing anyway but in a safer way….that would be terrible
With all the crime and cleanliness issues going on in the UWS, this is what people care about? A lot worse things happening outside of schools…
Amen🙌🏾🙏🏾 Thank you!
The tone of this article strikes me as odd – as if no one does anything other than notice these stores. Clearly they’re causing “confusion and concern” for some, but lots of WSR Rag readers are happy to buy their products. I think the cannabis shops and trucks are a welcome addition to the neighborhood.
Most of the confusion and concern, seems to me, is on the end of small business owners who have to navigate the bureaucratic road to legal sales – and do it without much neighborhood support. I wish Speights all the best and I hope he becomes super successful.
I’m interested to see what happens when New York State finally gets their act together and follows-up on the promise of the regulated, legal sale of marijuana (it’s the state’s slow incompetence that brought us here).
When legal stores open they will lobby together with donations (bribes?) to politicians who will immediately act to shut down these shops and trucks. Follow the money. Right now there is no moneyed interest to make the politicians act and stop this. And so the capitalist market is actually working as it is supposed to. People can legally possess marijuana in New York and these vendors are providing that opportunity. It’s really Economics 101 at work without government getting in the way.
I personally love what they bring to our neighborhood. From the friendly smiles & hellos, to cleaning the sidewalks, as well as bringing people of different walks of life together.
I see nothing but positivity in the future with the High Rollerz. Especially with the help/peace they bring to those suffering with pain or illness.
It is our job to educate our children and raise them. We can’t control everything in society but I am sure happy to have the High Rollerz out there than any other truck. The owner is a stand up respectful & responsible young man. Cheers to you! Keep striving for greatness young man!
I hope we all could be a little more open minded & kind.
People are dying from fentanyl overdoses. Weed is so not even remotely an issue. The only thing that is a problem is NY government is so inept that they aren’t getting a system in place to collect sales tax revenue.
This should be simple for the NYPD to make a buy do an analysis, make an arrest and confiscate the truck.