The Issue: Mayor Adams’ acknowledgment of some 1,500 illegal marijuana stores in New York City.
Mayor Adams said, “This cannabis stuff is a real problem” (“NYC’s dopey dilemma,” Feb. 22).
He was directly referring to the 1,500 sellers who now have illegal stores in New York because the fine for breaking the law by setting up such stores is only $250.
Adams says the illegal stores consider the small $250 fine the cost of doing (illegal) business.
Illicit smoke shops will always choose to pay a $250 fine. A $5,000 or $10,000 fine might be a start to getting rid of, or seriously reducing, illegal pot stores in New York.
Alan Hirsch
Port Washington
Look out, Mr. Mayor, this hypothetical is coming to a school near you, sooner rather than later:
A student shows up late to school, reeking of weed. The dean or assistant principal asks the student if he/she smoked weed on the way to school. The student responds: “Go f - - k yourself.”
This scenario will play out all over the city in very short order. What you gonna do, Mr. Mayor? Fines don’t work.
Illegal-weed store owners likely get $250 from 10 minutes of sales. There will be no help from Albany, and more ruination of already crime-ridden neighborhoods can be expected.
Ken Karcinell, Hewlett
I’m sorry, but this mayor is never ready for anything.
The whole idea of selling pot legally was to take control away from the dealers, and these politicians pushed this theory of making millions of dollars in tax revenue over the years, but now we have some 1,500 illegal pot dispensaries, which you’re not collecting taxes from, and there’s not much you can do, except fine them $250 if you catch them.
That’s the cost of doing business for them. What a city of fools.
Patrick Hogan
Patchogue
Leave it to the incompetent New York political class from the radical, “soft-on-crime” Legislature to the clueless Adams, to turn a simple cannabis-legalization implementation into the debacle that has resulted in 1,500 illegal pot shops.
Minor penalties for violations and non-existent enforcement created a perfect storm that allowed shady entrepreneurs and criminal predators to set up unlicensed shops all over the city, exposing adults and especially children to dangerous substances that lack quality control.
The illegal shops may be the tip of the iceberg if Albany does not quickly pass legislation to shut these operations down. Don’t hold your breath.
Anthony Scro
Whitestone
The Issue: The 34th Street Partnership’s hiring of K-9 units to protect businesses against shoplifting.
I really got a kick out of The Post headline “Ruff on crime” (Feb. 23).
Business owners have no choice but to protect their businesses with guards and K-9 units to stop shoplifters. This is because Albany lawmakers are unwilling to punish repeat offenders.
This is being done by the 34th Street Partnership, whose area includes Macy’s Herald Square, Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
Now shoplifters will have to beware of Fido and the rest of the K-9 units, who will finally take the bite out of crime. “Ruff, ruff.”
Frederick Bedell, Jr.
Bellerose
I throughly agree with hiring guards with K-9 dogs as a way to help curb the crime in our city.
If our government refuses to do its job, then the people need to take charge of the problem.
It’s a sign that our present state and local officials are not interested in providing the safety the taxpayers need. They are not doing their jobs for the people who pay them.
Alfred Bonnabel
Manhattan
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