MIDDLETOWN – A warrant search of a business in the City of Middletown, Splash Infused, that sells tobacco and related products, turned up 95.6 pounds of vegetative marijuana, 3,000 other edible marijuana-based products, marijuana vape cartridges, packaging materials and associated paraphernalia.
Police investigated with the city fire inspector was denied entrance to the store at 130 Wickham Avenue by an employee, later identified as Kenneth Ortiz, 31, of Middletown.
When they finally got inside, they found marijuana and related products in plain view that were packaged for sale in violation of established provisions of the state Cannabis Control Board and Middletown City Code.
That’s when police secured the search warrant and located the large stash of items and charged Ortiz with felony criminal possession of marijuana, obstructing governmental administration, resisting arrest, and trespass, all in connection with the incident on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 18.
Police noted that cannabis is now legal in New York for adults 21 and older, although legal adult-use sales have yet to be officially authorized.
Under the law, only the state Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management have the ability to license cultivators, processors, distributors, and dispensaries to grow, manufacture and sell adult-use cannabis and certain hemp, or CBD, related products in the state.
Back in July 2021, the City of Middletown voted not to allow marijuana-based sales and consumption sites in the city limits, a provision of state law that allowed the city to opt out.
The local legislation will continue to prohibit marijuana-based stores and consumption sites from operating in the Middletown City limits even after adult-use sales are authorized in other areas of the state.
The city will have the option to revisit the legislation at a later date.
