More than 80% of Long Island’s town, village, and city governments have voted to opt out of allowing newly legalized recreational marijuana to be sold at pot shops or cannabis cafes in their communities.
Of the 110 localities total across Nassau and Suffolk counties, the Press tallied 90 that had passed opt-out legislation in the days before the Dec. 31, 2021 deadline that New York State gave local lawmakers to decide if they want in or out. Boards that opted out include those in nine of the 13 towns, both of the two cities — Long Beach and Glen Cove — and at least 81 of the 95 villages on LI. Officials in at least nine villages that declined to opt out said they didn’t bother because they are strictly residential and have no commercial establishments where a dispensary could open anyway, such as the tiny Village of Asharoken on a North Shore isthmus.
