Yet another New York judge issued a ruling against the legality of the state’s crackdown on what it says are illegitimate cannabis companies, this time in the case of several hemp shops that say they were wrongly targeted by law enforcement officials.
In a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order issued Monday, Judge Thomas Marcelle ruled in favor of Super Smoke N Save and four other licensed Cannabinoid Hemp Retail license holders who sued the state in August, arguing they were incorrectly roped into a broad statewide crackdown on unlicensed marijuana shops.
Marcelle agreed with the hemp companies and issued an order forcing regulators to release hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods seized by law enforcement agents when the five shops were raided last summer.
The order also forces officials to remove “notice of violation” signs that read “illicit cannabis seized” and which had been affixed to the fronts of the five shops, and it bars the New York City sheriff’s office or cannabis regulators from conducting further warrantless searches of any such shops under the guise of “administrative inspections.”
Marcelle wrote in his order that he understands the state’s mission – to protect the community and particularly children from potentially dangerous drugs – but he ruled that that crusade cannot supersede constitutional rights for residents, including the Fourth Amendment’s protections from warrantless searches and seizures.
“The deprivation of petitioners’ constitutional rights … must be balanced against respondents’ interest in conducting warrantless search to interdict illicit marijuana at hemp shops,” Marcelle wrote.
“What tips the balance is that nothing that petitioners seek in the way of relief would interfere with enforcing the law. Respondents simply must do so in a constitutional manner and not through unreasonable warrantless searches,” he wrote.
Attorney Joshua Bauchner, who represents Super Smoke and the other plaintiffs, said in an emailed statement that he was “delighted” with the ruling.
The ruling “recognized these purported regulatory inspections are actually warrantless, armed raids in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” Bauchner said. “Our hemp clients – often small, family-owned businesses – are no longer going to be victims of willful government overreach labeling them as criminals in wholesale disregard of all constitutional protections.”
The ruling is the latest in a string of court defeats for New York officials who have been trying for months to close down the state’s thriving unlicensed marijuana trade. In a similar case, a different judge also ruled against the state in November, siding with two other licensed hemp operators. And in October, yet a third judge ruled that the entire crackdown was unconstitutional because it had granted the sheriff’s office too much power.
Monday’s ruling also barred state inspectors from seizing cannabis goods in future searches of suspected unlicensed cannabis shops “unless a particular product contains unlawful levels of intoxicants verified by testing,” or if the product in question has not been tested at all.
The ruling also prohibited inspections with more than two officials “whom shall not be armed,” a nod to the fact that fully armed state troopers were part of the raids on Super Smoke and the other four plaintiff shops.
The ruling further noted that according to an estimate from New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda, there are still roughly 3,600 unlicensed marijuana shops in New York City alone; that’s up from the estimated 2,600 Miranda estimated were remaining back in September, after the crackdown had been underway since May.
Super_Smoke_N_Save_LLC_v_Super_Smoke_N_Save_LLC_DECISION___ORDER_ON_207 The latest ruling also bars law enforcement from conducting warrantless searches under the guise of “administrative inspections.” Read More
