Up in smoke: Inside New York City’s chaotic crackdown on unlicensed weed shops
America’s largest city wanted to get rid of illegal weed shops. Then came the SWAT teams.
On May 28, 2024, Lenore Elfand, the owner of Empire Cannabis Club, an unlicensed dispensary in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, received a frantic call from an employee. NYPD officers and deputies fr…