The head of the state’s Cannabis Control Board has declared businesses giving away marijuana as a promotion with the purchase of an overpriced T-shirt, lighter or other item are breaking the law.

Tremaine Wright, the former state Assembly member who chairs the regulatory body for New York’s newborn marijuana industry, addressed the increasingly common practice during a meeting last week.

“There is no gray market in New York state,” Wright said. “This conduct is not legal and must stop. Individuals who do not cease run the risk of severe financial penalties.”

His remarks did not elaborate on what grounds “severe financial penalties” could be leveled, but added that anyone selling marijuana products in unlicensed dispensaries, pop-up shops, or markets is not licensed, “nor are they selling safe, tested products.”

Last month, CITY published an article highlighting a Henrietta business, HempSol CBD, that was offering a “free” eighth of an ounce of marijuana with the purchase of a $65 T-shirt. The owner of the shop claimed the promotional “gift” was legal under the state’s recreational cannabis law, which allows for adults to give each other up to three ounces of cannabis without compensation. [Read more at WSKG]