BY THE VILLAGE SUN | Legal weed stores are opening up — even as illicit ones keep getting robbed.
According to police, on Wed., Jan. 11, around 1 p.m., two males entered the Rainbow Smoke Shop, at 378 Sixth Ave., between Waverly Place and Eighth Street, with one displaying a handgun as they stuck up the 31-year-old employee.
According to employees who were looking at surveillance video of the crime on one of their phones a few hours later when The Village Sun came by, the gunman had stood by the door while the other guy stole the cash and goods.
Asked what was stolen, one of the employees, speaking only generally, just said cash and merchandise.
“Money…and grabbed stuff,” he said.
A police spokesperson said $600 in cash was taken, plus $1,800 worth of Flav Belt and Dazza infused pot gummies.
The robbers, both in their mid-20s, fled north up Sixth Avenue toward Eighth Street.
Police are asking anyone with information on either incident to call the N.Y.P.D.’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). Tips can also be submitted on the Crime Stoppers Web site at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org or on Twitter at @NYPDTips. Tips can result in cash rewards of up to $3,500. All tips are strictly confidential.
When I had the newsstand on 6th Avenue and 8th street, it was in front of an all-night drugstore. This was an early example of legal drugs being made available to the public and there was heavy traffic at all hours. It is interesting that legalization is also criminalization. The tooth decay that the robbers will be gifted with after eating all those gummies is fair enough punishment. Those of us who comforted ourselves with our cleverness for eluding capture for consuming a plant that regularly exceeded 6 feet in height and grew wild wherever the sun shined are concerned that the cachet is disappearing and with it some of the thrill. Dylan was truly being a prophet when he predicted that “Everybody must get stoned”…….”