Hashish could also be authorized in New York, however it’s a must to be 21 years of age to purchase it.
It seems, nevertheless, plenty of NYC weed retailers – particularly unlicensed ones – could also be skipping required age checks.
“I actually think a lot of parents would be surprised,” mentioned Dr. Ryan Sultàn, an assistant professor of medical psychiatry at Columbia College.
Sultàn and a group of Columbia researchers lately printed a research estimating 90 p.c of New York Metropolis’s unlicensed hashish retailers fail to verify IDs on the door, as required by regulation. The analysis discovered 48 p.c of unlicensed weed retailers didn’t conduct any age verification in any respect – together with on the level of sale.
That means underage patrons are having little hassle discovering a hashish store prepared to disregard the principles and promote pot with out asking for ID.
“Access to cannabis, the barrier just keeps dropping,” Sultàn mentioned.
To check hashish retailers for the research, analysis assistant Peter Menzi, 22, helped map greater than 800 hashish retailers working within the 5 boroughs. Then he visited a consultant pattern of them – posing as an underage buyer to see if the clerks would require him to supply identification earlier than promoting him a bag of pot.
Although dad and mom would possibly assume hashish retailers function like liquor shops, utilizing routine ID checks to dam underage purchases, that’s not what Menzi discovered within the metropolis’s patchwork of unlicensed pot retailers.
“Cannabis is pretty unequivocally harmful to kids, but it is a lot easer to access cannabis than it is alcohol in the city,” Menzi mentioned.
Though the Columbia research discovered broad gaps in the way in which unlicensed hashish retailers verify IDs, it discovered 100% compliance on the state-licensed shops Menzi visited.
However even state-licensed retailers don’t at all times observe the principles.
When the I-Workforce despatched a 21-year-old intern to buy pot from KushKlub, a state-licensed hashish retailer on the Decrease East Aspect, she had no hassle shopping for with out age verification. Utilizing a hid digicam, the I-Workforce captured video exhibiting there was no safety on the door to verify ID as she walked in. And when the intern confessed she had no identification, our hid digicam recorded because the counter clerk knowledgeable the client she might simply give a fictitious identify.
“Just put ‘Liz,’ L-I-Z and then put ‘F’ for the last initial,” the intern instructed the clerk. “As long as I don’t need to show you my ID.”
Liz was not her actual identify. Earlier than finishing the transaction, and for good measure, the intern requested a second time.
“And you’re sure you don’t need my ID?”
The clerk proceeded to course of the sale, accepting $35 and handing the client an eighth of an oz of hashish.
A rep for the KushKlub, who declined to provide his identify, later instructed the I-Workforce his workers ought to have checked for ID each on the door and earlier than the sale of any hashish product. However he mentioned he would wish to research the matter earlier than commenting additional.
Taylor Randi Lee, a spokesperson for the New York State Workplace of Hashish Administration, mentioned shutting down unlicensed shops and stopping entry to hashish for individuals beneath 21 are prime priorities for state regulators.
“We take any violations seriously and will investigate and take appropriate action against any retailer found failing to properly ID customers,” Lee mentioned in an announcement to the I-Workforce.
Sultàn mentioned the aim of the research was to not make judgments on whether or not hashish legalization quantities to good coverage, however fairly to check whether or not {the marketplace} for weed is functioning in a approach that protects youngsters and younger adults, whose growing brains are extra vulnerable to the damaging impacts of hashish.
“The biggest concern I always have for youth with cannabis is the set-up for sort of re-wiring their brain toward a brain that is more prone to addiction in the future,” Sultàn mentioned.
