Section 496-D - Enforcement The commissioner or the commissioner's duly authorized representatives are hereby authorized:
(a) To conduct regulatory inspections during normal business hours of any place of business, including a vehicle used for such business, where adult-use cannabis products are distributed, placed, stored, sold or offered for sale. For the purposes of this section, "place of business" shall not include a residence or other real property, or any personal vehicle on or about such property, not held out as open to the public or otherwise being utilized in a business or commercial manner, unless probable cause exists to believe that such residence, real property or vehicle is being used in such a business or commercial manner for the buying or selling of adult-use cannabis products.(b) To examine any adult-use cannabis products and the books, papers, invoices and other records of any place of business or vehicle where adult-use cannabis products are distributed, placed, stored, sold or offered for sale. Any person in possession, control or occupancy of any such business is required to give to the commissioner or the commissioner's duly authorized representatives or the duly authorized representatives of the office of cannabis management, the means, facilities, and opportunity for such examinations. For the purposes of this section, "place of business" shall not include a residence or other real property, or any personal vehicle on or about such property, not held out as open to the public or otherwise being utilized in a business or commercial manner, unless probable cause exists to believe that such residence, real property or vehicle is being used in such a business or commercial manner for the buying or selling of adult-use cannabis products.(c) If any person registered under section four hundred ninety-four of this article, or their agents, refuses to give the commissioner, or the commissioner's duly authorized representatives, the means, facilities and opportunity for the inspections and examinations required by this section, the commissioner, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, may revoke their registration to distribute or sell adult-use cannabis products at retail: (i) for a period of one year for the first such failure;(ii) for a period of up to three years for a second such failure within a period of three years; and(iii) for a period of up to seven years for a third such failure within five years.(d) The commissioner or the commissioner's duly authorized representatives shall seize any illicit cannabis found in any place of business or vehicle where adult-use cannabis products are distributed, placed, stored, sold or offered for sale by any person who does not possess a certificate of registration as described in section four hundred ninety-four of this chapter.(e) All illicit cannabis seized pursuant to the authority of this chapter or any other law of this state shall be turned over to the office of cannabis management or their authorized representative. Such seized illicit cannabis shall, after notice and an opportunity for a hearing, be forfeited to the state. If the office of cannabis management determines the illicit cannabis cannot be used for law enforcement purposes, it may, within a reasonable time after the forfeiture of such illicit cannabis, upon publication in the state registry, destroy such forfeited illicit cannabis.Added by New York Laws 2023, ch. 56,Sec. UU-6, eff. 5/3/2023.