NEW YORK CITY — Lawmakers could make it easier for the city to punish stores that peddle synthetic marijuana — known commonly as K2 — as authorities step up efforts to combat the drug.
Three bills making their way through the City Council aim to close loopholes that have made a 2012 statewide ban of K2 difficult to enforce, increase individual penalties for sale of the drug and strengthen the city’s ability to shut down stores found to be selling it.
The proposals have been sponsored separately by Councilman Dan Garodnick, Councilman Ruben Wills and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Wills’ bill would outlaw the sale of any product marketed as synthetic marijuana and create stiff new fines to enforce it. Mark-Viverito’s bill would allow the city to revoke a shop’s cigarette license if it is found to be selling the drug, and Garodnick’s, which passed committee on Friday, would allow the city to shut down any shop caught selling K2 three times during a one-year period.
The City Council will vote on all three bills on Wednesday, according to Garodnick.
K2 has gained a foothold in New York and turned some blocks, particularly near homeless shelters, into sites of repeated drug use and police crackdowns.
State and city leaders recently launched a multi-pronged effort to shut down the distribution and sale of synthetic marijuana, the use of which has caused more than 4,500 emergency room visits so far this year, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The bills before the City Council seek to cut off the flow of K2 without targeting the vulnerable people most likely to use the drug, Garodnick said.
"This will allow the city to go after businesses that sell K2 and shut them down," the councilman said on Monday. "Shutting down access to the drug is key."
Police have made several high-profile arrests just in the past week, including a seizure last week of $10 million worth of K2 from a warehouse in the Bronx and the arrest of 10 members of an alleged citywide synthetic marijuana distribution ring.
Despite those busts, attacking the drug at its point of sale has proved a slippery task. Under current law, authorities may punish individual employees with a fine of up to $500 and up to 15 days in jail, but they have been unable to punish business entities as a whole.
The bill sponsored by Wills would address that loophole and make individuals liable for a criminal fine of up to $5,000 and up to a year in prison, or both, and make a shop liable for civil fines of between $1,000 and $10,000 per violation for selling any product marketed as synthetic marijuana.
The maximum overall penalty for a first-time offender would be $5,000 and overall penalties would top off at $50,000 for a single shop.
