Operation Padlock To Protect has now closed the doors of more than 1,298 illegal pot shops across the city, according to the New York City Sheriff’s Department, but legal businesses say they have other priorities.

The law-backed, multiagency initiative was announced in May of 2024 by Mayor Eric Adams. It gives the Sheriff’s Office the ability to shut down businesses selling marijuana illegally. New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda says the agency is seeing fewer illegal shops reopening. Now, he says the challenge is to update the law to close loopholes, such as people selling illegally outside a shop once it’s shut down.

Padlock To Protect has shut down 256 locations in the Bronx and 393 in Brooklyn. However, it has faced legal pushback in Queens, where a judge ruled parts of the law unconstitutional.

Legal shops, like Bronx Joint in Hunts Point, say that although shutting down illegal businesses does help, the majority of their clients do not come from the black market.

The dispensary has been offering residents everything from edibles to flower for almost a year since it opened in March 2024. Manager Danny Lugo says support from the community has been essential, and that the biggest challenge has been navigating often-confusing regulations from the Office of Cannabis Management, such as restrictions around how businesses can advertise their products in store windows.