To: Sheriff Anthony Miranda and Mayor Eric Adams

CC: NYS Office of Cannabis Management, NYC Council, Community Board Representatives, Elected Officials, Local Media, and Concerned Citizens

To Sheriff Miranda and Mayor Adams:

I write to you today not just as a licensed legal cannabis operator in New York City, but as a deeply invested community member watching the business we fought to build and launch being decimated before our eyes.

It has now been over a year since we opened our licensed dispensary on Arthur Avenue. In that time, we have reported more than a dozen illegal shops operating within a few blocks of our store; many openly and flagrantly selling to minors, marketing to children, and peddling unsafe, untested, and unregulated products. These illicit retailers undermine every tenet of the legal market. They sell at prices that are impossible to compete with, not because of innovation or efficiency, but because they are operating entirely outside the law, depriving the state and local community of the tax dollars they are entitled to. They market directly to and sell to underage children. They even use colorful knockoff logos of popular children's-themed brands: video games, candy, etc.

Over the past year, enforcement from the NYC Sheriff’s office has been token at best in the areas around us. In some cases, closures have lasted a few hours, at most, a single day. Two of the most flagrant violators near us were shut down twice this past year, but each time, they reopened in less than 12 hours as documented in our immediate followup reports to the OCM. Despite repeated promises from the State Director of Enforcement to prioritize action in our neighborhood, we have seen no sustained follow-through.

This is not just frustrating. It is an existential threat to our business. These unchecked operations are putting our business, our staff, and the hard-fought gains of the social equity program at risk. We are now forced to ask: what was the point of building a legal market if law enforcement won’t uphold it?

The community has spoken. They support legal cannabis and want these illegal shops gone. The local business community is standing with us. Our elected officials join and support us, and local media are watching and reporting on our plight.

We fought for the state to give NYC Sheriffs the legal tools and authority to act. We won this fight in 2024 and you were granted the authority! You now have not just the power, but the responsibility to use that authority and enforce the law.

This letter is not a plea, it is a community demand: We require immediate, sustained, and properly scaled enforcement against the plague of illegal cannabis retailers in our neighborhood and elsewhere throughout the city. The time for token and occasional enforcement efforts is over. The time for real, sustained action is now. If you fail to act, we will not only lose our legal business, but the the legacy of NYC's enforcement efforts will be solidified as laughable at best. This cannot be the legacy of the legal market in NYC.

Make use of the enforcement authority we won for you!

Respectfully,

David Nicponski

CEO, Freshly Baked NYC

Director, New York Cannabis Retail Association