Last verified: April 2026
The Operation
Operation Padlock to Protect launched on May 7, 2024, weeks after the FY25 enacted budget gave New York City — and other localities — express padlock authority through Cannabis Law § 16-a, sometimes called the “SMOKEOUT Act” (championed by Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar). The operation is run by the NYC Sheriff’s Joint Compliance Task Force, combining deputies from the Sheriff’s Office, NYPD officers, and DCWP inspectors.
It allows warrantless inspections, civil fines, and physical sealing of any unlicensed storefront where cannabis is sold or stored — without prior judicial review. Civil penalties under amendments tied to the FY25 enacted budget start at $10,000 per day for first offenses, with escalating fines and the new local-government authority to padlock unlicensed storefronts for up to one year.
Operation Padlock Timeline
MRTA signed
Governor Cuomo signs the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act, repealing Penal Law Article 221 and creating the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) and Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
First legal sales
Housing Works Cannabis Co at 750 Broadway opens at 4:20 p.m. as the first legal adult-use dispensary in New York State.
SMOKEOUT Act — padlock authority
New York City and other localities receive express padlock authority through Cannabis Law § 16-a, championed by Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar.
Operation Padlock launches
NYC Sheriff's Joint Compliance Task Force (Sheriff's Office, NYPD, DCWP) begins warrantless inspections, civil fines, and physical sealing of unlicensed storefronts.
779 shops sealed
$65.6M in fines and penalties issued, $41.4M in product seized.
DOI raid on Sheriff's office
Department of Investigation raids Sheriff Anthony Miranda's office over alleged mishandling of seized cash.
Kerrigan ruling
Queens Supreme Court Justice Kevin J. Kerrigan rules in Cloud Corner / A S A 456 Corp. that Operation Padlock violated due process — calling Miranda's enforcement “capricious and arbitrary.” City appeals.
~1,400 shops sealed
Mayor Adams cites $95M+ in product seized and tens of millions in civil fines on operation's first anniversary.
Reid forced out
OCM acting Executive Director Felicia Reid forced out following the Omnium Health compliance case.
Mamdani inaugurated
Mayor Zohran Mamdani — the first NYC mayor to publicly admit purchasing at a legal dispensary — takes office.
MRTA five-year mark
Statewide cumulative legal sales reach $3.3 billion; 610 active dispensaries statewide; Pure Blossoms opens as the 600th.
Cumulative Numbers
August 2024 (3 months in)
- 779 shops shut
- $65,671,487 in fines and penalties issued
- $41,443,792 in product seized (CBS News)
September 2024 (4 months in)
- Over 1,000 shops shut
- $63 million in product seized
- Four tons of cannabis publicly destroyed at a Bronx event
May 2025 (1 year in)
- ~1,400 shops sealed
- $95M+ in product seized
- Tens of millions in civil fines issued
- Cannabis NYC Loan Fund disbursed $500K of an initial $2M tranche to CAURD licensees
- 160 legal dispensaries had opened citywide (per Mayor Adams’s anniversary statement)
The May 2025 milestone is the most recent comprehensive Mayor’s Office figure verified at this writing. The city has continued sealing and unsealing shops since then; updated cumulative numbers for Q1 2026 were not yet publicly available.
The Joint Compliance Task Force
The task force combines:
- NYC Sheriff’s Office — the lead agency, an arm of the Department of Finance, traditionally responsible for civil court orders, eviction notices, and tax-and-cigarette-licensing inspections. Sheriff Anthony Miranda is the operation’s public face.
- NYPD — uniformed officers providing security and arrest authority for criminal violations encountered during inspections.
- NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) — consumer-protection inspectors enforcing licensing, packaging, and product-safety regulations.
The Legal Market Response
Operation Padlock did, by every reasonable measure, what it was designed to do for the licensed market. Per OCM’s 2024 Market Report (April 2025), licensed shops that were open before Operation Padlock launched saw sales climb 105 percent in the months that followed. Statewide adult-use sales for 2024 were $869 million; OCM reported that 58 percent of retail sales were concentrated in NYC, implying a NYC share of roughly $504 million for calendar year 2024.
The Constitutional Challenge
On October 29, 2024, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kevin J. Kerrigan ruled in Cloud Corner / A S A 456 Corp. that Operation Padlock violated due process — finding that Sheriff Miranda’s authority to override the city’s own administrative tribunal (the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, or OATH) gave the sheriff effective veto power over neutral fact-finding. Kerrigan called Miranda’s enforcement “capricious and arbitrary.” The city, represented by Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix, immediately appealed; the appellate decision was still pending in early 2026. See Kerrigan Ruling.
Sheriff Miranda Controversies
Sheriff Anthony Miranda has been the operation’s lightning rod. Ingrid Simonovic, president of the NYC Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, filed at least 13 complaints against Sheriff Miranda between 2022 and 2024. Reporting documented deputies coughing up blood from improperly stored seized cannabis. On September 26, 2024, the Department of Investigation raided Miranda’s office over allegations of mishandled seized cash. Three federal lawsuits remained pending in early 2026. See Sheriff Miranda.
What Happens to a Sealed Shop
When a shop is sealed, the storefront is physically padlocked. The owner has the right to challenge the action through the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) — but Justice Kerrigan’s ruling found that the Sheriff’s Office’s practice of overriding OATH determinations was a due-process violation. Hundreds of formerly-unlicensed storefronts have since been “unsealed” so that landlords can convert them to legal cannabis retail or other lawful businesses.
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