BY ADAM ATKINSON
North Country This Week

POTSDAM — The only comments at the village of Potsdam’s recent public hearing regarding amendments to its cannabis business zoning law were regarding how the village could police or control the operation of unlicensed cannabis businesses.

Chapter 180, Zoning, Article XIV, Cannabis Law, Section 180-58 Cannabis Law of the Village of Potsdam Municipal Code deals specifically with dispensaries and businesses that possess a state-approved Conditional Adult-use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) license.

The village itself, like other municipalities, has little oversight over cannabis businesses in the community.

The village’s law requires state-licensed cannabis businesses to obtain an approved site plan from the village planning board. The law sets up parameters of how far such businesses can be located from schools or children’s facilities and its hours of operation.

At the public hearing Sept. 5, Allison Carney, representing the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce, expressed support for the village’s cannabis law, but was concerned about how unlicensed cannabis businesses could be more strictly policed and suggested the village look into ways it can bring dispensaries without a state license to heel.

“I just had one question about the new amendment. I’m curious because section A of our new cannabis law defines cannabis establishments, lounges, and retailers. If we add penalties and offenses, will it only apply to those businesses that we’ve defined?” Carney asked.

The proposed amendments to Chapter 180 will give the village more latitude when dealing with the siting and placement of unlicensed cannabis shops in “appropriate places,” despite the fact that under state law the municipality’s oversight of local state licensed cannabis businesses is rather limited.

New penalties that will be codified once the amendments are approved include a fine of up to $500 and jail time of up to 15 days per violation. Every day an establishment is not in compliance will constitute a new violation. The local penalties will be in addition to any state charges.

“So my concern is when we are talking about fines and a potential jail time, so far in our experience, those people who are selling illegally are not licensed in New York State. So none of that code would apply to them,” Carney said. “So is there a separate section in our zoning laws that we can add for penalties for people selling illegally without licenses?” she asked.

“That would be at the state level,” said Village Administrator Greg Thompson. Thompson said unlicensed cannabis businesses would be controlled and policed by the state Office of Cannabis Management. He then conferred with Village Police Chief Mike Ames on the issue.

“That’s what we ran into this summer obviously with the shops that we took issue with,” Ames said. Ames was referring to a major countywide bust in June of unlicensed cannabis businesses which swept up two shops in Potsdam in the raid.

“They were charged under the new cannabis sections for possession violations, and the sale violations. The local laws that we’re talking about… we’ve discussed more steps later that we could use for levying local penalties against them for operating,” Ames said.

The chief said some municipalities have adopted new codes to penalize shops operating without a state license.

“So we can charge them under state law with unlicensed sale and possession. But I think it’s up to the municipalities to adopt a set of laws for operating an unlawful dispensary,” he said.

“That’s what I’m hoping, that we can be proactive in developing those laws for non-licensed dispensaries because that’s really where the problem lies,” Carney said.

Carney said the proposed amendments were a good addition to the village’s cannabis law but didn’t think they addressed the problem the village has experienced in the downtown business community with unlicensed sale of marijuana products from various storefronts.

During the regular meeting, Deputy Mayor Steve Warr commented on the issue further.

“Based on past experience with the ABC laws,” said Steve Warr. “If you sell outside, if you don’t have a license and you are reported to New York State, they act on it quite quickly in conjunction with everything else going on. If you sell out of the back of a bar, it’s a non-premises. If you sell off premises they revoke your license for 30 days for the first offense. Then it’s a $10,000 fine and they revoke it forever after that. Then if you are caught selling it you go to jail.”

“That’s at the state level, it has nothing to do with municipalities,” Warr said.

The village board closed the public hearing but did not approve the proposed amendments.

While the state’s fledgling cannabis economy promised jobs, more tax revenue for the state and some for the municipalities, a recent state Supreme Court action has effectively stalled any licensed shops from opening until they are individually assessed by the state as to their readiness.

The Highest Peak at 25 Market, which is a state license holder, while initially given the go ahead, is now awaiting further movement in the courts before they get approval to start operations in Potsdam.