Empire Cannabis Club, one of New York’s largest and highest profile unlicensed cannabis businesses, has pledged to take regulators to court to prove its legality.
Business of Cannabis reported earlier this month that two of Empire’s six locations spread across the city had been raided by police amid Gov. Kathy Hochul’s ongoing efforts to crack down on New York’s estimated 3500 unlicensed shops.
The four co-owners of Empire say they plan to defend the legality of their business, arguing it falls within the ‘safe harbour’ provision for cannabis member clubs as part of the 2021 Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act.
Speaking to Forbes the co-owners, who are all part of the Elfland family, argued that Empire operates as a membership club and should therefore be considered legal ‘under the law New York wrote’.
READ MORE: Empire Cannabis Club Sees 2 Stores Raided Amid New York Crackdown on Unlicensed Stores
Following the raids earlier this month, tens of thousands of dollars worth of cannabis goods were seized by officials from the Department of Tax and Finance, which the owners are now planning to sue to get back.
“We are going to court – it’s time to prove our legality, what we believed all along and how we’re operating under the law New York wrote,” Lenore Elfand said.
“We have to fight, and now is our chance – they came at us.”
