Weeded out: Illegal cannabis dealers raided in Manhattan by agencies newly empowered to crack down on unlicensed pot sales

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Officials raided illegal cannabis shops in Manhattan on Wednesday — the first enforcement push since legislators expanded the power that state agencies have to punish the stores, which have become nuisances to many New Yorkers but everyday fixtures on city blocks from Brighton Beach to the Upper West Side.

The Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) and the Department of Tax and Finance confiscated illegal goods and fined seven stores in Manhattan $10,000 each — with an additional $20,000 per day fine levied if they continued selling the goods, officials said.