NEW YORK – In the past three months, the New York City sheriff and police department have shut down and padlocked nearly 1,000 stores accused of selling cannabis without a license , but an attorney says a court ruling could put the operation in jeopardy.
Earlier this month, a judge allowed a Bayside bodega accused of peddling pot to reopen, poking a hole in Operation Padlock to Protect.
In that case, the sheriff continued to keep the store padlocked even after the summons for selling cannabis was thrown out. The judge ultimately ruled that is unlawful for the sheriff to do so and also went on to say a store accused of selling cannabis without a license may be able to stay open if it can argue its cannabis sales were not a significant part of that business…