MIDDLETOWN – City officials in Middletown are concerned that many stores that legally sell tobacco products may also be selling non-licensed merchandise so they are exploring a way to curb that practice.
The city may enact a local law requiring those shops to secure a local license to regulate what they are selling more closely, said Mayor Joseph DeStefano.
“We have had many of them in violation with selling illegal products so we fell we need this other tool and it’s a permit that would be issued annually, a permit that can be revoked, if they are in violation with serving products such as marijuana that they are not licensed to sell. Other communities in the state have done it. There has been some success in Buffalo,” the mayor said.
The Middletown Common Council held a public hearing last week with no one commenting. The issue will be held open for comment for two weeks before lawmakers consider formally adopting the local law.
