recreational weed rollout<\/a> was marred by lawsuits and bureaucratic snafus at the state Office of Cannabis Management, all while a slew of illegal marijuana peddlers sprouted up.<\/p>\nThe alleged illicit pot peddlers in Morris Heights didn\u2019t take kindly to being smoked out by The Post Friday.<\/p>\n
A reporter and photographer spied two tents \u2014 one black, one red-orange \u2014 on the snowy sidewalk, with orange electrical cords running to nearby poles, presumably to provide power.<\/p>\n
The red tent had a hand-scrawled sign on a dry-erase board declaring \u201cShops Open,\u201d along with prices for pre-rolled joints and baggies up to $100.<\/p>\n
But as the journos sniffed around the hot boxes, a masked mope holding a phone aggressively confronted the photographer sitting in a car and demanded to know why he was taking photos.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I see?\u201d the hooligan barked, before trying to snatch the snapper\u2019s phone.<\/p>\n
One apparent lookout aggressively confronted a Post photographer. New York Post<\/p>\n
The man approaches a Post reporter and photographer on Friday.<\/p>\n
The photographer drove off with the drug dealers\u2019 apparent lookout still knocking on his window.<\/p>\n
After the tense confrontation, cops took two people into custody, an NYPD spokesperson said. They didn\u2019t provide more information.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they are selling illegal drugs, then cops should shut them down,\u201d a 22-year-old nonprofit worker who grew up in the area said. \u201cYou can buy marijuana legally in New York City, so people do not have to buy from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a residential area and that is something that children should not be privy to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cannabis canopies have long burned Caballero, executive director of the Davidson Community Center, where the BJT Bronx Commercial District is based.<\/p>\n
He said the group has complained to the NYPD\u2019s local 46th Precinct, but the \u201cvery aggressive\u201d dealers keep coming back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t care. They sell right in front of the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are arrested and within 24 hours they are out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caballero said Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark should nip the pot pests in the bud.<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s spokesman Matthew Rauschenbach hazily said City Hall is looking into the matter.<\/p>\n
The tents\u2019 occupants seemed to be jacking power. NY POST<\/p>\n
A power cable jacked into street lamp post leads to the tent. NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cNew Yorkers have many options from which they can safely purchase recreational marijuana, and these tents do not appear to meet the requirements associated with legally selling marijuana,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Clark\u2019s office didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment, nor did Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson and local reps Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, state Assemblywoman Yudelka Tapia and state Sen. Jose Serrano \u2014 all Democrats.<\/p>\n
The brazen blazing bivouacs reached online infamy this week after a TikTok user documented them in a video emblazoned with \u201cOnly in the Bronx\u201d \u2014 and featuring one bleary-eyed occupant peering out.<\/p>\n
The video went viral among critics of Mamdani, who rolled up the ganja awnings with Democratic socialist\u2019s arguably soft-on-crime stances.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrug igloos \u2014 another remarkable innovation here in the socialist utopia of New York City,\u201d firebrand conservative Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Queens) posted on X.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome to Mamdani\u2019s New York City! Before you know it the administration will be giving these guys vendors licenses,\u201d said fellow Queens Republican Councilwoman Joann Ariola.<\/p>\n
City Council Minority Leader David Carr (R-Staten Island) managed to burn both Mamdani and his progressive predecessor Bill de Blasio.<\/p>\n
The tents had been set up for years, locals said. NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess it didn\u2019t take long for de Blasio\u2019s signature open-air drug markets to return to New York City,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tents are a nice improvement, though. I guess this is the socialist way of maintaining public order.\u201d<\/p>\n
Locals were quick to point out the tents long pre-dated Mamdani\u2019s still-budding mayoralty.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom someone actually from this neighborhood, they been trapping out this s\u2014 way before Mamdani so STFU,\u201d one X user posted<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u2014 Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Vaughn Golden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boogie down for drug igloos. Pioneering drug dealers have been openly slinging marijuana from tents on a busy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,8979,24783,7317,68,6210,57,9,24,63,103,129,131,130,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-133088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-bronx","8":"tag-bronx","9":"tag-cannabis","10":"tag-drug-dealers","11":"tag-drugs","12":"tag-exclusive","13":"tag-marijuana","14":"tag-metro","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nypd","19":"tag-the-bronx","20":"tag-the-bronx-headlines","21":"tag-the-bronx-news","22":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}