On a packed stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Morris Heights, two pop-up tents are turning heads and raising blood pressure. Neighbors say the makeshift weed booths, one black and one red-orange, have been openly hawking marijuana in full view of schools and storefronts. After video of the setup hit social media, complaints piled up, and a photojournalist who tried to document the scene says someone inside one of the tents aggressively confronted him. Now residents and local advocates are pushing City Hall to move a lot faster.
Reporters from the New York Post found the stalls set up outside 1773 Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Blvd and photographed handwritten menus listing pre-rolled joints and baggies priced up to $100. According to the Post, a TikTok clip captioned "Only in the Bronx" helped the footage go viral this week and turned up the heat for enforcement. A law-enforcement spokesperson told the paper that police later took two people into custody after the run-in with the photographer.
"They don't care. They sell right in front of the kids," longtime community advocate Angel Caballero told the New York Post. Caballero, who runs the Davidson Community Center, said people arrested for selling on the street often return within 24 hours. He called on Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Bronx prosecutors to "nip this in the bud." Neighbors told the paper that setups like these have been in place for years in some spots, even as formal crackdowns have gone after brick-and-mortar smoke shops.
Roots of the problem
The tents are part of a larger pattern that took hold after New York legalized adult-use cannabis in 2021. A slow and uneven rollout of the legal market, coupled with a limited number of licensed dispensaries, has pushed many sellers into unregulated corners of the city. According to the Office of Cannabis Management, its Enforcement Division works with local agencies to shut down illicit sellers and protect consumers under the state's regulatory system.
Coverage of the citywide vendor boom has shown how unlicensed sidewalk commerce has surged in recent years, which makes it harder for authorities to distinguish legal vending from illegal drug sales. That tension has been detailed by Gothamist, which has tracked how the explosion of street vendors has complicated enforcement efforts.
Enforcement so far
City officials have leaned on a multi-agency strategy to shut down illegal cannabis storefronts. The Mayor's "Operation Padlock to Protect" task force has sealed hundreds of unlicensed smoke and cannabis shops across the five boroughs, largely by inspecting businesses and slapping padlocks on noncompliant locations. That approach works better for fixed storefronts than it does for pop-up sidewalk tents that can appear and disappear quickly.
City press releases on these padlock sweeps highlight major seizures and closures, yet local advocates say street-level dealing remains stubbornly entrenched in neighborhoods like Morris Heights. They want faster follow-up after arrests and more resources aimed specifically at sidewalk operations, not just the shops with leases and metal gates.
Legal note
Selling cannabis without a license violates New York State law and can bring civil penalties, product seizures, and other enforcement actions under the framework created by the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act, which is carried out by the Office of Cannabis Management. Depending on how police officers and inspectors classify the activity, sidewalk vendors can also face local violations for blocking pedestrian space or operating without proper permits.
For community leaders watching the situation on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the tents have become another test of whether the city's enforcement tools and the evolving legal market can actually shield neighborhoods from unregulated street sales.
