Saturday, December 16, 2023

Illegal cannabis dispensary seeing blue this morning

Photos by William Klayer 

A quick note via the EVG tipline... law enforcement officials were spotted inside the Recreational Plus Cannabis Dispensary on the SE corner of First Avenue and 11th Street. 

A Restraining Order is also posted on the front window here at 180 First Ave. (FYI: This building is also for sale.) 

From the street, the shop appears to be empty. (The business' Yelp page notes, "Recreational Plus East Village is temporarily closed. Scheduled to reopen on January 1, 2024.") 

The signage arrived for it back in October... it was later removed, though the shop remained in operation.

This happens to be one block north of Go Green Dispensary, where on Tuesday, local elected officials came together, spoke out against unlicensed cannabis shops in Lower Manhattan, and called on landlords to stop renting to these businesses.

Like Go Green Dispensary, this operation is close to multiple schools (East Side Community School and PS 19 East Village Community School) and the mosque on the NE corner of 11th Street and First Avenue.

4 comments:

none_to_remain said...

They hadn't been open for business for weeks. Got out ahead of the cops?

Too bad, was one of the better quality shops.

Phil said...

It is so strange to me how they'll target one shop every couple weeks and leave the other 40 or 50 alone. What's the rhyme or reason here? And more importantly, why in the world do we still not have anywhere close to the necessary number of legal permits? This has turned into far and way the most embarrassing rollout of recreation weed of any state in the country.

Simon E said...

I totally agree with Phil , this is an absurd scenario.

Anonymous said...

I’ve always been curious how these places even exist. For example, the giant one on 2nd Ave. between 5th and 6th that has its own security guard. These places are all the same. Crappy little store packed full of junk food with a million employees and garish lighting. They can’t all be legal. Furthermore, many are within the historic district of the East Village, with storefronts clearly in violation of any kind of landmarks regulations that others are forced to follow at considerable expense. (Meanwhile, I love the efforts they’re taking follow those same regulations at the new bagel place at the corner of 7th and 2nd Ave.)