By Michael V. Cusenza
It was mighty neighborly of Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Ozone Park) on Thursday to help shutter a convenience store located next door to her Ozone Park district office—and across the street from a City middle school—that sold illicit tobacco and cannabis products.
Ariola and the City Police Department’s Queens South Narcotics Squad collaborated on a nighttime raid of the 101st Avenue shop. Two people were arrested, and nearly 800 packs of untaxed cigarettes and more than 30 pounds of marijuana were seized.
Thursday night’s raid follows another law-enforcement operation earlier this month in which Ariola worked with authorities in targeting a similar outlet in Old Howard Beach. Cops raided and shuttered Howard Puff Convenience, a smoke shop on 102nd Street with a history of selling untaxed cigarettes and unlicensed cannabis products.
Photo Courtesy of Councilwoman Ariola
A man is taken into custody on Thursday.
“Another one down and nuisance abatement requested to get them shut down for good. One by one anyone and anything that is a danger to the safety of our constituents will be eliminated from District 32,” Ariola said, before imploring the State Legislature to pass the SMOKEOUT bill.
Introduced in January by State Sen. Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) and Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Woodhaven), the stop marijuana over-proliferation and keep empty operators of unlicensed transactions (SMOKEOUT) act would permit municipalities to enforce licensure requirements of retail dispensaries by closing retail locations which sell cannabis without a license; allows seizure of the instrumentality of the unlawful sales, including real estate.
The proposed legislation is being considered by the Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee. It is currently in the Assembly Economic Development Committee.
