This article is one of the winning submissions from the New York Post Scholars Contest, presented by Command Education.
Yummm, candy. I haven’t had it in forever! It tastes just like watermelon. Let’s just check the ingredients label real quick…
Organic tapioca syrup, organic cane sugar, organic flavored extracts, filtered water and…
Hemp-derived Delta-9 THC distillate.
Tanner Clements, from Virginia, died after over-consuming his mom’s THC gummies.
This could have easily been avoided had he read the ingredients list, but…
He couldn’t read. He was four.
Virginia police say it was because he ingested a “large amount” of THC-infused edibles. Rather, it was due to his mother’s erroneous decision to not store them in a hard-to-reach space.
Young people are accessing mind-altering drugs in their own homes. The parallels between the Clements case and the rising rate of drug abuse among New York City teens cannot be ignored.
A Need for Weed
In 2021, the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act, or MRTA bill was signed into effect on March 31 by former Governor Andrew Cuomo. It has only allowed for easier drug access for adolescents: through “exotic shops” and “convenience candy stores”, all of which are littered with colorful LED lights and a plethora of winding marijuana pipes lining their display cases. They do not use the proper name and deceive kids—it’s a weed store, plain and simple.
After enticing kids inside with the colorful fruit displays and familiar cartoon characters, they are faced with an unfamiliar sight. Inside the store are not the typical Sour Patch Kids or Twizzlers, but LYT-branded Magic Mushroom-Infused Chocolate Bars and THC sour candy belts, mmm…take your pick!
But here’s the catch: the names of these sweets are not just that. And while many may argue that children are not allowed to enter legal marijuana dispensaries and head shops, these stores are not operating with authorization licenses, and thus often ignore age and other restrictions intended to protect them.
The respective chocolate bars come in plenty of flavors, Rainbow Road, Cookie Monster and Explore S’more.
In this age of consumerism, things come in as a trend and out just as fast. That’s why neon lights and bright pink packaging work so well when advertising to children. These illegal dispensaries use the very same tactic of bright colors and tasty flavors to lure them in every time, not just for drugs, but for vapes too.
According to Flowhub, “Cannabis will add $115.2 billion to the economy in 2024.” That is the same amount as what was needed to repay the damages for Hurricane Ian in 2022, according to Statistica in 2024.
Referred to as the forgotten borough, Staten Island isn’t known for much—a suburban wasteland to most and a foodie’s paradise to locals. But a new trend is rising, something that Staten Island shouldn’t be known for.
Easy drug access to minors
A concerned Staten Island teacher states: “It’s been devastating to witness how many people have been impacted in West Brighton. I’m not sure if they [exotic stores] are even licensed. But there have been recent instances of shootings, robberies and fights there. I always find that young people are in front of these stores. It’s clear they don’t check credentials.”
“It was at a track meet last week.”
“I saw it yesterday when I was on the bus.”
“They were there on Saturday at the playground.”
No, these kids aren’t talking about the last time they saw their friends. They are talking about the last time they saw a minor using marijuana and THC products on Staten Island.
The local student perspective
According to Greatschools, CSI High School is rated 9 out of 10 on a scale of academic excellence and rigor, but that has not stopped drug use. With a student population of 520, kids still show up to school high and use their THC pens in the bathrooms.
“I know it’s a small population of kids,” a CSI student states, “but it’s enough to tarnish our image, it really shows the extent of how far kids are willing to go to be ‘cool’ even in a small school like ours.”
Students report that the issue is even worse in other Staten Island schools. One sophomore transfer interviewed describes her experience by saying in Port Richmond High School freshmen, seniors, and even some teachers would have a smoke session together in the middle of the auditorium. Other times, they were right in front of teachers who wouldn’t pay it mind.
About her time spent at Curtis High School, the same student recalls: “The teachers from Curtis were nice. They had metal detectors and they got vapes, blunts, etc. confiscated from them. Certain teachers would then hide them to give back later. It’s wrong.”
“Marijuana is common in most high schools, and from my experience, it’s most frequent in hallways at my school,” states Anson L., a senior from Petrides High School. “The teachers don’t care, they don’t take action. Weed pens are common, but nicotine is much more prevalent. They treat vapes like phones, if they see it, they’ll just tell them to put it away instead of confiscating it.”
However, not all student views are similar on the legalization of marijuana. Some find it an ironic change. A CSIHS senior states, “I tried weed at 14 and started using it consistently at 16, it’s docile. People get into more fights being drunk than being high. It’s so normalized because you can’t overdose on it. I feel like the pill problem is way worse in S.I.”
One thing he does not support is fentanyl use though. “It was the worst experience of my life.” The student describes how he received some weed laced with fentanyl from a friend once before, and regrets that he should have known better.
The Staten Island impact
Opioid use is another rising trend among teens and is indeed a public health crisis in our community. Fentanyl, a stronger and more deadly substance, has become popular with opioid users who cannot get a prescription for painkillers anymore.
Although opioids do not have as broad of a reach as marijuana does, Narcan has started to become more available in schools to use in case of an overdose emergency. One Staten Island social studies teacher explains, “I know many schools are training teachers on how to use Narcan, especially with teen increased opioid usage.”
The worst thing about weed use is the sheer vicinity it is within schools, especially within the St. George and West Brighton areas—an already low-income area. According to Our Town NY, there are about 2,000 unauthorized stores in Manhattan alone and 36,207 unlicensed cannabis businesses in New York State. Many of these exotics shops often operate in simply manipulative ways, luring in kids with the same tactics they do with vapes, which explains their popularity.
It was believed that legalizing marijuana for recreational use in New York would “raise tax revenue, establish a safe marketplace and reduce arrests and criminal penalties.” This was the case two years ago, but now?
A specific store in West Brighton has been gaining popularity amongst the people, young people. Known as Baba Yak, it is a 24-hour smoke shop with colorful imagery, anime characters and cartoon figures everyone knows getting high. Next to it is a new and upcoming deli/ weed shop, sporting a mural of Rick and Morty high with their eyes bright red. And these colorful symbols of pop culture are not supposed to attract a young crowd? It is clear all these brightly lit hot spots are only trying to hop on the trend of profit over people.
CBD stores have also been found popping up all over, one new one specifically in the Staten Island Mall, a primary hotspot for kids. Although CBD has no direct link to being as dangerous as THC, it is advertised as such a normal occurrence that the very (potent) smell of the drug or the symbol of a marijuana leaf has become normal for people to see and breathe.
Imagine how close dispensaries can be when tightly squeezed together on a small island like Manhattan. On Staten Island, though, they have an excuse. They continue to run close by, despite the fact that they have ample room to relocate as far away from school buildings as they can. However, they decide not to because they know exactly how much profit it brings them.
What to do?
Staten Island is the least-densely populated borough in New York, a suburban safe haven with a closely-knit community and strong school districts. It is the best place to raise a family, and it is being slowly taken over by these stores like a creeping virus ready to harm our kids.
Weed dispensaries may be a common sight now, but we can avoid this if the New York government decides to take action. Presently the only regulation keeping children sheltered from the abysmal lure of marijuana stores is a zoning law requiring stores be at least 500 feet away from school entrances. Five hundred feet is less than a city block, which is on average, 660 feet. That is a walk that takes less than 2 minutes. Are we genuinely going to allow exotic stores to advertise so brightly from the windows of a school for students to briskly waltz over to this falsely advertised “candy store?”
Instead of placing our funding on other issues, we have to make sure our money is being allocated to the local problems of our own people of New York.
A 10th-grader at CSI High School for International Studies on Staten Island, Wong wants to become a lawyer or a journalist.
