Philadelphia state Representative Amen Brown is pressing a renewed enforcement push against unlicensed smoke shops in West Philadelphia, announcing that a days-long undercover operation led to a raid on the 4026 Convenience Store where he says drugs, guns and cash were recovered. Brown said the raid took place Friday morning and framed it as the latest step in an effort to close shops in his district that he accuses of selling narcotics, untaxed out-of-state cigarettes and contaminated marijuana to neighborhood children. Police confirmed a narcotics operation was conducted at the locations but did not say whether any arrests had been made or whether charges were pending against the owners, and Action News reported that multiple attempts to reach the owner of the convenience store for comment had not been returned.
“We don’t need establishments like this just popping up overnight, over the weekend with a grand opening sign saying come buy this weed,” Brown said.
Brown described the 4026 Convenience Store as a repeat target. “It’s not the first time it was hit, but first time we successfully hit it. It had guns, and drugs and cash,” Brown said. He went on to claim the products posed a specific danger to young customers. “More importantly, they were serving the children; the kind of marijuana they were selling is contaminated with multiple deadly pathogens,” Brown said.
Brown’s enforcement sweep of West Philadelphia smoke shops
Brown said the action was carried out in partnership with Philadelphia Police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office. He said the joint effort has shut down 13 similar smoke shops in the last three months and has identified 30 more within his district that the team plans to target next.
Years of complaints from West Philadelphia neighbors
Residents told Action News the 4026 site has been a source of complaints for years. “It’s 24 hours. People just pull up all day, every day,” neighbor Cynthia Ebo said. “I knew it had to be something.”
The legal landscape behind the Pennsylvania crackdown
Under Pennsylvania law, recreational marijuana remains prohibited, and medical marijuana is dispensed only through state-licensed facilities. Tobacco retailers in the state must hold state licenses and remit applicable taxes on cigarette sales. Enforcement actions against unlicensed sellers have drawn the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office and local police departments into joint operations in multiple jurisdictions.
Reported by WPVI.
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