Marijuana Sellers Target Bronx Students

Story by Itzel Robles + Cara-Star Tyner

Photos by Brandon Carrollo Leon + Itzel Robles + Elisa Luna Cameron + Joshua Capote

Map data collected by Christopher Vidals + Elisa Luna Cameron

A BDC Focus investigation reveals that dozens of unlicensed smoke shops in the Bronx are illegally operating near schools, marketing marijuana products to children, and selling directly to underage teens.

As marijuana use among Bronx youth creates widespread health problems, dozens of illegal smoke shops are opening near Bronx schools. A BDC Focus investigation has found numerous smoke shops breaking New York State laws, including minimum distance to schools and illegal marketing to children. The Focus investigation also found that numerous NYC law enforcement and educational agencies are aware of the violations but have chosen to ignore the issue. Smoke shops investigated by Focus have offered to sell marijuana to Bronx youth as young as 15-years-old.

More than a dozen smoke shops have opened recently near schools in the Bronx Documentary Center’s Melrose neighborhood.

Teenagers and young adults in the South Bronx have been exposed to a variety of drugs through illegal smoke shops and street vendors right outside their schools

At the corner of Courtlandt and 151st street, Puff Puff Pass, is 202 feet from Bronx Haven High School and less than 300 feet from Immaculate Conception School. At 500 Courtlandt Ave, EZ WHOLESALE Trading, a smoke shop, shares a wall with Brilla College Prep Middle School.

New York City Department of Health regulations mandate that “businesses located within 500 feet [of schools] have no posted advertisements related to tobacco and vapor products, electronic cigarettes, and paraphernalia on store fronts and exterior doors and windows.”

Smoke shops throughout the Bronx are openly ignoring these laws.

A BDC Focus student journalist, 15-years-old and wearing his school uniform, was offered an “eighth” of marijuana for $35 from a clerk at Puff Puff Pass at 606 Courtlandt Avenue.

“The sign on the door says you have to be 21 and over to enter but they never asked me for my age or anything,” said the young journalist who didnot want his name used. A BDC staffer walked into the same store and was offered marijuana sales by the clerk before he had a chance to ask for help.

Increasingly, Bronx students appear to be smoking marijuana in the morning before school. Dozens of youth converge near Alfred E. Smith High School to smoke at 7:30 each morning, clouds of marijuana haze filling the air as security guards look on. Doctors are increasingly concerned about the damaging effects of marijuana on teens.

Long-term cannabis users showed an average decline of 5.5 IQ points from childhood to midlife, according to a study in the American Journal of Psychiatry in May, 2022.

“Everybody is washing their hands of it. The police say they were told not to do enforcement. They say it’s up to the sheriff’s office. I challenge the schools to advocate better for their students.”

— Martin Rogers, neighborhood activist

School

Smoke shop

Data collected in 2022

Dr. Blanca N. Grand, a long-time emergency room doctor in the Bronx, said she sees “an increase in teens coming into [the Emergency Room] with Marijuana Induced Hyperemesis also known as Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS). Symptoms include episodes of nausea, vomiting, dehydration and abdominal pain, with frequent visits to the emergency department.”

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In a recent interview, Dr. Grand said, “I had a 14-year-old who came repeatedly with marijuana-induced hyperemesis and it’s so early, it’s always at 8 o’clock in the morning. So they’re doing it in school or before they go into school.” Today’s marijuana has also become much stronger,according to the doctor. “These effects are now so much more common than before.
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When people smoked in the 1960’s and 70’s–the so-called potheads–they were not having [these reactions] because the nature of the drug itself has changed.” Charas Scientific lab founder Andy LaFrate, Ph.D., has reported that today’s cannabis is between 400 and 700 percent more powerful than the cannabis of years past. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the, “negative effects of teen marijuana use include: difficulty thinking and problem-solving, problems with memory and learning, reduced coordination, difficulty maintaining attention, and problems with school and social life.”

Despite public statements and occasional enforcement actions, illegal smoke shops continue to operate openly throughout the Bronx. Many shops that have been shut down or padlocked by city agencies have reopened within days, sometimes under the same name and sometimes under a new one. The persistence of these stores suggests that fines and closures, when they happen at all, have not been sufficient to deter operators. In neighborhoods like Melrose, students pass multiple smoke shops on their way to and from school each day, normalizing the presence of illegal cannabis sales in close proximity to educational institutions.

As the legal cannabis market continues to expand in New York, the gap between stated policy and on-the-ground enforcement remains stark. The evidence gathered by BDC Focus shows that underage access, illegal marketing, and proximity violations are not isolated incidents but part of a widespread and largely unchecked system. Without coordinated enforcement from city and state agencies, the situation is likely to worsen, further exposing Bronx youth to health risks and undermining the regulations designed to protect them.

At a recent press conference, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “Legalizing cannabis was a major step forward for equity and justice- but we’re not going to take two steps back by letting illegal smoke shops take over this emerging market.”

Responding to questions about smoke shops from BDC Focus journalists, 40th Precinct Commanding Officer, Deputy Inspector Joseph G. Tompkins said,“we are not allowed to do enforcement there, it has to be the Sheriff’s Department.”

The Bronx County Sheriff’s office did not respond to repeated requests from the BDC.

“Everybody is washing their hands of it,” said neighborhood activist Martin Rogers in a recent interview. “The police say they were told not to do enforcement. They say it’s up to the sheriff’s office. I challenge the schools to advocate better for their students. Darcel Clark, the Bronx District Attorney…why are they not raiding some of these stores?”

The findings of this investigation point to a systemic failure of oversight at multiple levels of city and state government.

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While agencies acknowledge the existence of illegal smoke shops and the laws governing their operation, enforcement remains fragmented and inconsistent, allowing violations to continue in full view of schools, families, and students. Until responsibility for enforcement is clearly assigned and sustained action is taken, the gap between New York’s cannabis regulations and the reality on Bronx streets will continue to grow — with children and teenagers bearing the consequences.