Enforcement leaders in the state Office of Cannabis Management said Wednesday the department is putting pressure on New York's illicit market, but local police argue they need more direction from the state to eliminate thousands of illegal dispensaries operating statewide.

The 2025 budget included $13.4 million to hire 95 people dedicated to fight illicit marijuana sales, including 37 OCM enforcement staff, 43 to assist the state Department of Taxation and Finance and 15 workers in the Attorney General's Office to assist with related litigation.

OCM has hired at least 25 full-time enforcement staff to date, said Daniel Haughney, the department's director of investigations and enforcement.

"That's a continual process," Haughney said Wednesday. "While we continue our inspections, we are constantly interviewing and working to add new staff on to our organization chart. ...And we're putting significant pressure on that illicit market — we're seeing that in our operations out in the field, and we will continue to do that."

OCM has confiscated over 24,000 pounds of illegal cannabis flower, edibles and other prohibited products in the last year, worth over $108 million.

James Rogers, OCM's director of business development, is a member of the state's Illicit Cannabis Enforcement Task Force and said Wednesday the group conducts several inspections each week to close unlicensed dispensaries.

"This task force operates with 26 separate state agencies, contributing over 200 personnel to this effort," Rogers said. "It's multipronged."

Rogers and Haughney refused to publicly estimate how many illicit stores are open across New York.

The state budget included initiatives to crack down on the state's thriving black market, including language to expand local government authority to close illegal stores faster and lower the standard of proof required to evict a tenant operating one.

State leaders have touted the changes, which they said have emboldened county sheriffs to padlock or take action against illegal stores more quickly. But Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said he has not seen a difference since the new policy took effect this spring.

"It's just convoluted — we just need clear-cut rules," Apple said. "Tell us what we can and can't do, what they can and cannot sell. I mean, they're selling [psychedelic] mushrooms in some of these places. It's crazy.

"I think the state did a horrible job rolling this out — I think everybody has agreed on that," the sheriff said.

A total of 216 illegal dispensaries have been padlocked since the budget passed in April, but Apple said it still takes police multiple tries to shut an illegal dispensary's door, adding local police continue to lack direction from the state and clarity about what to do with seized illicit products.

OCM has confirmed confiscating psychedelic mushrooms from a handful of unlicensed stores this year.

Apple said his office has received tips about harder drugs, like cocaine or heroin, being sold at some illegal shops in the Capital Region, but investigators have failed to gather evidence to shutter those locations.

The Albany County Sheriff's Office has relied on the state Department of Taxation and Finance for guidance about what products can and cannot be sold.

"Law enforcement have no teeth to do anything with it... and they'll tell us what they can and can't sell, and we take it and we destroy it," Apple recalled. "And eventually we run them out, but I don't know. It's crazy. But I can't honestly sit here and tell you that any changes have given us more authority to shut down places down yet."

In May, state Office of General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy released a scathing report about significant issues within OCM burdening the rollout of the legal industry, leading to the firing of former executive director Chris Alexander, who then resigned from his term three months early.

Department officials Wednesday said the change in leadership has not impacted enforcement efforts as Gov. Kathy Hochul's office continues a national search to select a replacement.

"It is a priority for new leadership, and I would put that at the top of their priority list," Roger said. "And if we do that, then we just increase our equity goals,"

OCM officials said they remain focused on not losing staff amid department changes and not interrupting enforcement. The enforcement task force is not permanent, but the department will always have some staff dedicated to shutting down illicit shops.