At the risk of self-incrimination, I've been ... personally interested in a recent development in my beloved home city of New York. Seemingly overnight, stores selling weed have popped up on what feels like every corner, despite the fact that they're not actually legal yet. Weed has been decriminalized here recreationally since 2021, but we're still in a weird liminal space where it can't be legally sold. However, that's not stopping plenty of bodega operators, would-be entrepreneurs, and even some enterprising tarot card readers from making a few extra bucks giving the people what they want.

My colleague Emily Stewart has a very fun and illuminating piece on what's been happening as the state gets its act together rolling out permits while sellers and consumers navigate the murky gray space left in the interim. It's a fascinating case study about what happens when the powers that be kinda-sorta-almost get something right (especially when it comes to correcting historic inequities), and then good old bureaucracy gets in there to slow the whole apparatus down. Regardless, though, NYC is on its way to getting a lot more chill.

—Alanna Okun, senior editor for culture and features

New York seems to have a weed store on every corner. None of them are legal.

a black and white image of a car with a JUST MARRIED! sign on it, and a ''dollar sign'' scribble across the image

Matt Dunne/Vox

New York City's crisp autumn air has a distinct scent to it, and this year that scent is weed. Many of the city streets have a fresh look to them, too — marijuana and cannabis products are for sale, out in the open, everywhere. New York legalized recreational marijuana in the spring of 2021, but the state is still in the process of doling out licenses to legally sell it, which makes the situation ... confusing.

So I recently treated myself to a little NYC cannabis secret shopping-reporting tour to try to figure out what was going on. A tarot card reader sold me a pre-rolled joint off of a table in Washington Square Park, warning me to watch out for other sellers who might not know what they're talking about. An issue to ponder for another day, on both of my merchant's entrepreneurial fronts. Later, I bought an edible from a smoke shop even though neither I nor the guy selling it seemed clear on what it was. CBD? Just regular marijuana? The synthetic stuff that might set me up for a very bad time? Maybe the tarot reader had a point.

In the Lower East Side, I popped into a store with marijuana-leaf stamps adorning its facade. "This dispensary is not a speakeasy bar ... or is it ... sorry," a sign outside read. Then, in some fine print, it got to the point: "We sell weed." There, I bought what I think are more reliable edibles and chatted at length with the guy behind the counter about his plans for the store. A group of teens walked in to make a purchase, and he turned them away — a move I'm not sure he'd have made had I not been there. (The legal age to buy is 21.) He seemed optimistic about his operation's prospects. I didn't mention that a rival shop was going up within eyeshot of his own, or that trucks selling marijuana have popped up on corners across the city.

We didn't discuss what could become the biggest threat to his budding cannabis operation, a threat faced by every open seller I talked with that day: the fact that none of these operations are really legal. New York is in the process of handing out the first round of 150 equity-focused licenses to adult-use retail cannabis dispensaries across the state. Not a single one has gone out yet.

"None of them are compliant, none of them are allowed," said Aaron Ghitelman, a spokesperson for New York state's Office of Cannabis Management (OCM), in an interview. "They're jumping the gun."

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