NYC NOW - July 6, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: July 6, 2023

A federal and state investigation has been launched into a devastating cargo ship fire at Port Newark, which resulted in the tragic loss of two firefighters and left five more injured. Meanwhile, as NYC retirees shift to a new privatized Medicare system, some doctors voice concerns over accessibility of benefits. Finally, Governor Kathy Hochul is spearheading a crackdown on the profusion of unlicensed cannabis shops in New York City, amid struggles to establish a legal marketplace. WNYC’s Sean Carlson talks with reporter Caroline Lewis who has covered the rocky rollout of recreational cannabis.

NYC. Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Thursday, July 6th. Here's the midday news for Michael Hill. Federal and state officials will investigate the massive cargo ship fire at Port Newark last night. It killed two firefighters and hurt five more. Officials say several small vehicles burned and spread, and Newark Fire Chief Rufus Jackson said the extreme heat today made it hard to fight the fire. Imagine trying to make your way through there with 45 pounds of gear, layers of clothing to protect you from the heat. Port New York is the second largest port in the nation. Retirees who work for New York City soon will transition to a privatized version of Medicare known as Medicare Advantage. It's a coverage that's exploded

in popularity nationally. These plans frequently offer extra benefits, but some doctors say they also make it harder for patients to access them. Dr. Thomas Sterey is a plastic surgeon at Mount Sinai. He says he helps with major surgeries that sometimes require inpatient rehab after the fact. If patients have straight Medicare, I can send them pretty readily off to some kind of a rehab facility and they'll get inpatient rehab sometimes within the hospital itself, which is a really good program, but the advantage plans never approve it. Edna says its offerings will feature fewer roadblocks to getting care than other Medicare Advantage plans.

86 with sunshine out there now, sunny and 91 for a high today, the real feel closer, though, to 100. That's right, 86 with sunshine now in the city. On WNYC, I'm Sean Carlson. It does not take a veteran imbiber to do. know that unlicensed cannabis shops far outnumber legal dispensaries in New York City right now. Governor Kathy Hokel wants to change that and is pouring resources into a new crackdown on illegal pot shops. The renewed enforcement push comes as efforts to get the state's legal marketplace up and running continue to sputter.

W.N.I.C. Caroline Lewis has been covering the rollout of recreational cannabis in the state and the region, and she joins us now to give us more. Hey, Caroline. Hi. Okay, a few weeks ago, the announcement of a new wave of crackdown on illegal cannabis shops in New York came out. Can you give us what the basic contours of the enforcement plan are? So Governor Hockel really ramped up the potential consequences for selling weed without a license in the state budget. And that's helped reinvigorate the enforcement effort. In this latest wave of crackdowns, state officials rated 31 stores across the state and seized up to $11 million worth of products. You know, and they start out by issuing violations. And then if those violations are upheld, the shops could face fines from $10,000 a day all the way up to $20,000 a day if they don't

stop what they're doing. But of course, a shop could just opt not to pay those fines. And if the financial penalties don't work, then state officials say they can also petition the court to issue a restraining order or even get a shop padlocked shut. How has this all been going so far? I would say that remains to be seen. When I visited some of the stores in Manhattan that Hockel targeted, they were back open and selling wheat again, you know, and some had even left up the signs the state put up on their windows saying illegal cannabis seized. You know, employees were telling me that wasn't deterring customers at all. And that was before any fines were issued, but if the state has to make repeat visits to see if these shops are still selling weed and then

escalate their enforcement actions, it could take a while to see any results. So I think there's a real question here about how much resources, you know, the city and state have to use to actually make a significant impact, just given the sheer volume of weed bodegas in New York City. Caroline, can you remind us why the state has been so reluctant to crack down on these illegal bodegas up until now? I wouldn't necessarily say the state has been reluctant, but officials have been sort of figuring out the best approach. You know, keep in mind the part of the goal of the law that legalized marijuana in New York was to ensure that people were not going to be criminalized or incarcerated for marijuana on a large scale. So politicians don't want to look like they're

reverting back to the war on drugs. But at the same time, city and state agencies have been using a variety of tactics to try to crack down on these shops, you know, so far with limited success. But the Manhattan DA has tried going after the landlords who are renting to these dispensaries. the city has filed nuisance abatement lawsuits. And there have also been some arrests during the raids the city has conducted, whether that's for marijuana or other charges. I know in New York City, marijuana arrests are actually starting to creep back up after they fell sharply when marijuana was first legalized.

How much money is the state committing to the enforcement effort? I'm not sure the total figure, but I know that the State Office of Cannabis Management is getting $5 million this year. to hire 37 new enforcement officers to conduct these investigations and raids. One of the things I'm so curious about is the reaction of owners and employees of the illegal pot shops. What are you hearing from them about all this? I mean, I think it's clear that the initial reaction is often to just keep on trucking and try to keep selling weed for as long as possible. I spoke to one illegal dispensary owner in Yonkers who said he is hoping to get a license.

but some employees at other shops I've visited, you know, sort of acknowledged that this is likely a temporary situation and that they're just trying to make as much money as possible while they can. I spoke to Paula Collins, a lawyer who represents some of the owners of these unlicensed shops. And she said that, you know, increased competition, you know, with all these new illegal shops opening, has eaten into their sales somewhat, but they're still doing pretty good business. Those little shops are making profit of $1,000 a day. That's after they pay their rent, their employees, and their product. They're profiting $30,000 a month. And, you know, as Collins also pointed out, if these shops closed, consumers wouldn't have a lot of legal alternatives. You know, so far, only six legal dispensaries have opened in New York City.

And at least one of those, I know, was just a temporary pop-up that's already, you know, closed for renovations. Given that there has been so much competition from unlicensed cannabis retailers, how are the legal dispensaries faring? Well, I will say whenever I pass the housing work store in the East Village, there's a line outside. So clearly there are some customers who do want that tested, regulated product. The licensed dispensaries did about $23 million in sales through May of this year, which isn't too shabby given there's just a handful of them.

But the state is definitely missing out on tax revenue by being so slow to launch more of these legal stores. It's WNYC's Caroline Lewis. Thanks so much. Thanks, Sean. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines

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