Baltimore City Council is considering a measure that would give police the power to padlock smoke shops caught selling illegal products. Under the proposal, businesses would get two chances before officers could shut their doors — a threshold city leaders say would give them teeth against repeat offenders, as some businesses absorb fines as a cost of doing business.
How the Padlock Order Works
The proposed ordinance would empower Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley to issue closure orders shutting down repeat-offending smoke shops for up to one year, according to CBS News. After two documented violations, the city would issue notice and provide the business a hearing before the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings.
WBAL NewsRadio previewed the legislation. Council President Zeke Cohen and Councilman Antonio Glover were quoted in CBS News' May coverage of the bill. City officials describe the bill as part of a broader push to tighten enforcement of cannabis regulations across Baltimore, where legal and public safety concerns tied to unlicensed sales have persisted for months.
A City Saturated With Smoke Shops
CBS News reported that Baltimore has at least 1,200 smoke shops, helping explain why lawmakers reached for a tool as blunt as padlocking. Officials contend many of those storefronts are also selling unlicensed cannabis products on the side.
The padlock bill was introduced Monday. Separately, in May, the city council voted on a zoning bill barring smoke shops from operating within 750 feet of any school, park, or recreation center, giving noncompliant storefronts two years to relocate or close, WMAR reported at the time.
Youth Safety Concerns Drove the Push
During public council hearings this year, Baltimore Teachers Union representatives and local residents testified that illicit smoke shops use youth-targeted packaging and sell uncertified THC products that have made minors sick, according to BNN.
Baltimore dispensary GreenLabs described the competition from illegal smoke shops as unfair and said it pays taxes and tests products using industry guidelines.
Enforcement Roots Go Back to March
The push for tougher penalties traces back to a joint enforcement initiative that Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates convened with state cannabis regulators in March, following storefront raids and violent incidents — including shootings — tied to illicit smoke shops, Hoodline previously reported. That reporting also detailed an ATF undercover buy operation that led to charges against a smoke shop employee in Arbutus, part of the same wave of enforcement forums Bates held with regulators at local high schools.
Maryland's cannabis oversight divides responsibilities between the Maryland Cannabis Administration, which oversees legal dispensaries, and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission's Field Enforcement Division, which handles illicit sales, according to the Maryland Alcohol, Tobacco, and Cannabis Commission.
