That’s one way to try to hash things out.
City lawmakers fed up with the slow rollout of legalized recreational cannabis and the proliferation of illegal weed stores piled on an Albany bureaucrat who asked for help Wednesday promoting a new pot purchase initiative.
Pascale Bernard, a Deputy Director of Intergovernmental Affairs with Albany’s Office of Cannabis Management, emailed all 51 City Council members and all five borough presidents to explain the state’s new “Why Buy Legal” campaign — which seeks to educate New Yorkers about the pitfalls of buying cannabis products from unlicensed vendors.
But with only a handful of licensed vendors up and running in the Big Apple, and some 1,500 stores openly selling weed on the grey market, Bernard’s missive was not well received.
“You guys are legit doing everything BUT helping us shut down the illegal weed dispensaries,” fumed Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn).
“There are 4 legal weed shops in NYC right now. Another 4 illegal ones will open up before I click send on this email,” the Bay Ridge-based council member wrote before hitting “reply all” to the massive chain.
“These new retail licenses will be functionally worthless and tax revenue will be a distant cry from what we anticipated unless we get serious about the illegal weed shops masquerading as legit dispensaries AND get more new licenses out the door,” Brannan continued.
The lawmaker then admonished officials for thinking “this problem is gonna correct itself,” before signing off with the venomous valediction “Get it together.”
Several other city Democrats chimed in to applaud Brennan’s rant, with Queens Councilwoman Natasha Williams writing “I second this notion!,” and Bronx Councilman Oswald Feliz writing “I third it.”
The email chain was viewed by The Post Thursday. The Office of Cannabis Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The OCM has approved nearly 100 new recreational retail cannabis licenses to New Yorkers who had been arrested under prior cannabis prohibitions, but the state’s approved vendors have been slow to open up shop as a planned $200 million private/public fund connected to the equity program stalled.
Only eight locations had opened so far — with four in Manhattan, one in Queens, three in the entirety of Upstate New York and none on Long Island, according to the OCM.