Illegal Weed shops in plain sight: what’s the status of Syracuse’s crackdown efforts?
Syracuse - It’s called Friends of Ours Lounge, and one sign says it’s a “private club”.
A smaller sign describes it as a “cannabis lounge.” Another warns you must be 21 to enter. A security camera scans the entrance.
The storefront at 103 Nichols Ave. in Eastwood is a few steps down the street from the Paine Branch public library, directly across from the Eastwood American Legion Post and within a block or so of two churches.
Some neighbors say people, including kids, have been seen going in and out of the space smoking or vaping weed. They suspect people are using, and perhaps buying, marijuana inside. They’ve raised their concerns with city officials.
“I’m very worried about this business,” neighborhood resident Alissa Mossow wrote in an email to syracuse.com. “... They have nonstop traffic ... kids in and out of there ... cannabis and alcohol ... cannabis oils ... vapes.”
The Eastwood storefront is among several potentially illegal businesses across Syracuse that city officials are aware of and investigating. And although the Common Council adopted a new ordinance to help crack down on illegal cannabis businesses in December, it has yet to take any of those cases to court.
If the Eastwood lounge is selling marijuana, or providing it as a “gift” with other purchases, or operating as an unlicensed consumption space, it is possibly violating state and local law.
But Michael Lannie, who says he owns the lounge, denies selling marijuana there and believes nothing illegal is happening.
“We don’t sell alcohol we don’t sell anything we watch baseball and smoke weed together,” he wrote in an email and a Facebook message to syracuse.com. “What is the difference between us and (a) bar?”
Syracuse.com tried on several occasion to enter by knocking on the door but got no answer.
Although recreational marijuana use by adults has been legal in the state since April 2021, there are currently no licensed marijuana businesses in the city, or anywhere in Onondaga County.
Across the state, there are just eight state-licensed shops. That has has created an environment for the illegal “gray market” weed business to thrive. Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers have been wrestling with the steps they can take to crack down on illicit sales. Hochul has endorsed a public service campaign urging New Yorkers not to buy illegal weed.
There remains a great deal of uncertainty over what authorities can or cannot do to stop them. That includes a disagreement on whether the law actually prohibits it.
In December, the Syracuse Common Council approved a new local ordinance that officials said would empower them to investigate illegally operating marijuana businesses and seek court orders to shut them down.
There are perhaps dozens of illegal weed businesses in the city, officials have said. Some are pop-up operations that have no licenses or permits of any kind. Others are licensed and permitted business that are selling pot illegally on the side.
Since the Syracuse ordinance was approved, the city codes office has put several suspected illegal marijuana locations under investigation, said Brooke Schneider, Senior Public Information Officer for Mayor Ben Walsh. None of those cases has yet triggered the new law.
Officials from the Syracuse city codes enforcement department, which is investigating these businesses, are “aware of 103 Nichols Ave. and are investigating the location,” Schneider said. Code Enforcement Director Jake Dishaw declined to elaborate to syracuse.com.
Despite some neighbors’ concerns, representatives of both the Paine Branch Library and the Eastwood American Legion have told syracuse.com they have not heard from their patrons about any issues with the lounge.
Syracuse Common Councilor Jimmy Monto, whose district includes this section of Eastwood, is aware that some of his constituents are worried about the storefront on Nichols Avenue.
Monto said he supports legal marijuana and licensed weed businesses, but noted that unlicensed operations are still illegal.
“There’s mixed reactions to these kind of operations,” Monto said. “Some people say if they’re minding their own business then leave them alone. But if you’re selling cannabis without a license to that, that is not allowed in the city of Syracuse. And with these unlicensed places, you don’t really know what they’re selling, and that’s a problem.”
He said he knows the city’s enforcement may be moving “slow,” but they are at least working on it.
“I’m not aware that this (the Nichols Avenue space) is acute at this point,” he said. “But it is a concern.”
Neighbors who contacted syracuse.com are hoping something happens soon.
“I’m really worried about this and ruining our Eastwood community,” Mossow wrote in her email. “... They have not won a license for this establishment, they do not pay taxes.”
Mary Chung, another Eastwood resident included in the email thread, wrote: “I don’t want my children to be sub(ject) to this type of thing. ... (Our) community has been very safe for (a) long time and we like to keep it this way.”
