Two people were arrested at High Cloud smoke shop located at 357 East 204th Street in Norwood following a raid by the NYC Sheriff’s Office on Friday afternoon, Sept. 5.

 

Members of the NYPD, the Sheriff’s Office, and a representative from NYC Department of Consumer Affairs were seen at the location on Friday, carrying out around seven transparent bags of seemingly unlicensed cannabis products.

 

The NYPD later said that at 5.37 p.m. on Friday, a business inspection was conducted at the site in conjunction with the Sheriff’s department. “Marijuana was discovered inside the location, as well as some other narcotics,” a police spokesperson said. Asked if he could confirm the type of other narcotics seized, as well as the quantity, the spokesperson said, “It looks to be like pain medication.”

Asked if he could confirm what type of pain medication, the spokesperson said he didn’t have that information yet and also didn’t yet have the quantity of cannabis and narcotics seized. He said two people were arrested but added that their fingerprints had not yet been processed so he couldn’t yet release the names.

 

The spokesperson added, “Right now, it looks like they’re going to be charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. Looks like there’s three counts of that. There was also a switch blade knife that they found inside the location.”

 

Switchblade knives are illegal to possess in New York City under both state and local law, as New York City’s Administrative Code 10-133 prohibits carrying certain knives, and state law (New York Penal Law 265.01) lists switchblades as illegal weapons. Possession can lead to misdemeanor or felony charges, fines, and jail time. 

 

A bystander at the site called Raven Chestnut told Norwood News two people had been arrested earlier that day as the store did not have a license. “When I came down here, it was already getting raided and one of my friends told me that the smoke shop… someone told on them and said that they shut down the smoke shop,” he said. “My friend told me that he kept telling ’em that someone’s goin’ around tellin’. I don’t know who the person is.”

 

“I saw that both of them got arrested for no reason. They probably, you know, if you don’t have a license to sell that stuff, they lock you up for it because they didn’t have a permit; that’s why.” he said. Later, in reference to his thoughts on who might have informed the authorities, Raven added, “If a person is completely miserable and they have a store, they’re losing customers, what they do is, they contact the sheriff’s office and they tell them that they’re [another business] selling [inaudible], marijuana, vapes, and they don’t have a license. They get shut down for that.”

 

We asked Raven if he believed it was a competitor to High Cloud that had informed the authorities, he said, “Yes, because they lose money for that.” Asked if he believed it was another smoke shop, he said, “No.”

 

We asked why a regular [non-smoke shop] store would feel threatened by a smoke shop (from a competition standpoint, based on his theory) if the other non-smoke shop was not selling the same products [cannabis] as High Cloud and Raven said, “It doesn’t matter. If you got somebody selling the same products, if you have no permit, you should not be selling it, because you don’t have a permit to sell all that stuff. You can’t sell weed without a permit.”

Law enforcement were seen shuttering the store and placing a notice outside which read, “Notice of closure. Do not enter.” It continued, “The unlicensed sale of cannabis and /  or cannabis products occurring at 357 East 204th Street poses an imminent threat to public health, safety and welfare. This premises has been ordered closed and padlocked.”

 

According to public city records, an indenture (deed) agreement was signed in February 1980 in respect of the premises between Emil Mosbacher of 480 Park Avenue in Manhattan and Robert Mosbacher of 2515 Avalon, Houston, TX. In 1988, a further deed was signed between Robert Mosbacher and Emil Mosbacher Real Estate LLC.

 

An order to cease unlicensed activity and seizure notice was also affixed to the shuttered store and made out to “High Cloud and More Corporation” with an address at 357 E 204th Street, Bronx.

 

A separate summons, also posted to the storefront, was made out to respondent, Emil Mosbacher Real Estate LLC.  A separate semi-covered, yellow, summons penalty docket addressed to High Cloud and More Corporation, also affixed to the shutters, detailed an OATH (Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings) violation with a maximum penalty, under OATH code A B E1, of $25,000.

 

The order to cease unlicensed activity and seizure notice listed the following seized products from the store: “Cannabis Flower, Cannabis pre-rolls, T-K Edibles, THC Vapes, and other products (favored vapes OTP).”

In July, The New York State Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) issued a recall on multiple adult-use cannabis products produced by East End Flower Farm LTD. OCM officials said such regulated cannabis products are being sold at licensed cannabis adult-use dispensaries throughout New York State.

 

They said OCM had not received any reports of adverse effects caused by the consumption of the products but reminded consumers to report any incidents related to the use of the product or any other cannabis product by completing an incident form at https://cannabis.ny.gov/report-an-incident.

 

Following an investigation, the Office determined that East End Flower Farm LTD products were placed under quarantine due to concerns about unreliable testing performed by Lexachrom Analytical Laboratory, a laboratory that is no longer permitted to test cannabis products. To address these concerns, East End Flower Farm LTD retested one of the three affected lots, which then failed for the presence of pesticides above allowable limits set by OCM. The other two lots subject to the recall were not retested. OCM therefore issued a recall for all three (3) lots as a precautionary measure.

 

The following products were affected:

Licensee	License Number	Product	Lot Number
EAST END FLOWER FARM LTD	OCM-PROC-24-000094	“Harvest”– Secret #9, Flower, 3.5g	EE-89-8-001
EAST END FLOWER FARM LTD	OCM-PROC-24-000094	“Harvest”-Lemon Haze, Flower, 3.5g	EE-LH-8-001
EAST END FLOWER FARM LTD	OCM-PROC-24-000094	“Harvest”- Pure Michigan, Flower, 3.5g	EE-PM-8-001

 

A full list of recalled products and affected lot numbers is available at cannabis.ny.gov/recalls.

 

If you are a consumer who purchased any of the products produced by East End Flower Farm LTD indicated in the table above, and you wish to return the recalled product, OCM advises to contact the retail dispensary where you purchased the products adding the product can be returned even if it is opened. (Given this store has been shuttered, buyers should presumably reach out to OCM for advice.)

 

OCM officials said the presence of pesticides, above levels safe for human consumption in cannabis products constitutes a testing violation necessitating a recall. Another recall had been announced in June, as reported.

 

OCM reminds consumers to report any incidents related to the use of this cannabis product or any other cannabis product by completing an incident form https://cannabis.ny.gov/report-an-incident. Seek immediate medical attention or advice if you are currently experiencing a serious or troublesome cannabis-related symptom(s). Call your health care provider or the Poison Center at (800) 222-1222.

A local resident informed Norwood News that the store had a cat and queried if it had been given to anyone at the time the raid was carried out. We called the NYPD to ask and were referred to the Sheriff’s department. We’ve been unable to reach the latter by phone but will continue to try to reach them via email. The resident later confirmed the store was seen reopened later on Friday night seemingly for non-cannabis retail business and cat appeared to be ok.

 

 

The store was again seen reopened for non-cannabis retail business on Saturday, Sept. 6 and the cat was seen drinking from a bowl.

 

To view a short video of the shuttering of the store, click here. To read some of our prior reporting on smoke shops, click here, here, here, here and here.

Anyone with information regarding these incidents is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/, or on X @NYPDTips.

 

All calls are strictly confidential.