South Queens, NY – The robbery that ended in a fatal shooting this week at Plug Smoke Shop in Richmond Hill is a wakeup call for the need to shutter illegal smoke shops. Each of our city’s estimated 1,400 illegal smoke shops is a powder keg for criminal activity, putting all of us at risk. When they are not being robbed, these shops are selling illegal cannabis products, some marketed to children and some containing fentanyl or deadly contaminants. Of note, there was another fatal shooting last month at a smoke shop in Harlem. The cash and drugs filling these shops create an irresistible two-for-one combo for anyone looking to commit a robbery, which now cost one man his life in my district.

These shops must close now. Warnings, fines or permission to keep operating pending a hearing are not going to stop these tragic incidents. We must force the shops to cease operations, the same as our city would force a restaurant to close for health code violations. I applaud Mayor Eric Adams for his ongoing work to shutter these shops, and as a state representative I will push for the resources and expanded enforcement powers the Mayor, the NYPD, and the Sheriff's Office need to close these shops once and for all.