SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News)– A few hours ago, members of the Syracuse Common Council and Syracuse Corporation Counsel met to discuss action toward unlicensed cannabis businesses. Every shop currently selling marijuana is selling without a license. Corporation Counsel Susan Katzoff believes not many people know this is the case.
“People who go to these establishments believe that they are acting within the law,” Katzoff said. “I believe also that they trust the product they are getting is regulated. The fact is, it’s not.”
Katzoff said the goal will be to shut down businesses that are unlicensed immediately. Katzoff added that they would try to keep businesses who aren’t exclusively selling cannabis open, but they’d have to close the cannabis part.
There are currently no rules or punishments in place for the unlicensed selling of cannabis in Central New York. The Corporation Counsel is suggesting that the Common Council allows for a violation-based system that would allow places who sell illegally to close after three violations.
Many common councilors expressed their concerns that the community has nothing in place to shut down the spread of fentanyl as well.
“I think that’s a different issue in the sense that yes certainly there are criminal aspects of that which can come into play, and police can arrest people, and they can confiscate that as part of an arrest,” Katzoff said. “I think the issue there becomes a testing issue.”
Katzoff said the meeting was just one little step in the right direction that could help the Corporation Council solve many problems with drugs in the city of Syracuse.
Here’s a look into how the meeting played out:
Katzoff: there are holes. It’s like a sivve. In terms of what our powers are. So, Jake has certain powers where there is an establishment that has a C of U to sell mercantile, as Jake calls it. I call it food products, he calls it mercantile. But, that same establishment may be selling something the C of U doesn’t cover. So, Jake can cite them, it’s a code violation, he can cite them, but it’s not necessarily clear if he can shut them down on that basis. This tool gives us more power to actually shut them down.
Then we have another situation where this same establishment is located in a place that is not set up for retail sales at all. it doesn’t comply. That’s a whole different situation. He has more power there to shut them down because they just don’t have a permit. With respect to the fentanyl, and the spike, and those types of things, I think that is a different issue in terms of ‘yes certainly there are criminal aspects of that that can come into play and police can arrest people. they can confiscate that material as part of an arrest. I think the issue there becomes a testing issue. And I think that handcuffs the police. I think they’ve mentioned instances, especially with respect to spike. I think every single time we get a test that accounts for this they change a molecule in it so now it doesn’t react to this test, so I can’t prove that it is spike. So, it’s a multi-faceted problem that spans all of these different drugs and all of these different departments, and our entire city. So, I know it seems like we’re coming to you with this little teeny tiny nugget, this whole grain, you know, one grain of sand on an entire beach. But that’s where my office- everything we can do, even if it’s a little tiny change, helps up to help Jake and to try to find ways to combat this when truly we are being handcuffed at so many levels. So the fact that the legality of marijuana got out ahead of regulations… we don’t control that.
We are left here in a situation where to your point councilor the general public, all they heard was ‘marijuana is legal’. So the people who go to these establishments believe that they are acting within the law. I believe also that they trust the product they are getting is regulated. The fact is, it’s not.
