Restaurateurs: When Food Doesn't Pay the Bills, Sell Weed

On Tuesday, police raided Crown Heights Caribbean restaurant Chris, along with two other restaurants, a deli, a bodega, a clothing store and a music store, because they were selling over 170 pounds of weed a week. Lordy! Says Police commish Ray Kelly, "At lunch it turned into a veritable pot-luck event...You could go in and get drugs in the food itself or go to the back of the store and pick it up or even buy it over the counter.” And Councilmember Letitia James, "It was an open drug bazaar on Nostrand Avenue." To be fair NYPD, it is a recession after all, and the restaurant industry was hit hard. You think serving food alone is going to get them through this?
· Off-Menu Goods Attract the Police’s Attention [NYT]