Exclusive | NY AG blasts tony Southampton’s pot laws after town’s attempt to block state-approved Brown Budda dispensary

Southampton’s pot shop regulations are “unreasonably impracticable” — and flat-out illegal, the State Attorney General’s Office wrote in a recent letter to a federal judge, The Post has learned.

The blistering new letter, obtained by The Post, declared that the tony town has no authority to pile on permits, fees and zoning hurdles, which directly conflict with the state’s cannabis laws, according to AG Letitia James’ office.

The missive was sent Nov. 28 to US District Judge Judge Joanna Seybert, who is overseeing the case between the ritzy coastal town and the defiantly-opened Brown Budda cannabis dispensary.

The town is accused of rigging its local zoning code in an effort to stop pot shops from opening in Southampton, even allegedly trying to stick Brown Budda with a $40,000 bill for a sidewalk it didn’t need, according to sources close to the shop and the AG’s letter.

A portion of the Southampton Town Code, §330-162.26, “is preempted and invalid,” the letter read. 

“The New York State Cannabis Control Board has determined the provision makes the operation of licensed retail cannabis dispensaries ‘unreasonably impracticable,’” it added.

That section of the Southampton Town Code slapped already-licensed dispensaries with 17 extra rules — including costly special permits, distance limits, design demands, zoning caps and other hoops no other businesses in the town had to jump through, according to the letter. 

The CCB already voided a majority of the town’s rules in October as overly stringent, illegal and designed to intentionally block legal dispensaries from ever opening.

State regulators also struck down the town’s attempts to regulate weed deliveries within its borders, calling any effort to do so “completely outside of municipal authority.” 

But that ruling from the CCB didn’t stop the town from claiming that Brown Budda was still responsible for constructing an estimated $40,000 sidewalk in front of its east-end storefront right off the highway. 

“[The] town code directly conflicts with and is preempted by both the Cannabis Law and its implementing regulations,” the AG’s office wrote to Seybert about the town’s regulations, including the sidewalk mandate.

“It imposes additional restrictions on retail cannabis dispensaries beyond those imposed by state law and, in doing so, interferes with the State’s implementation and enforcement of uniform statewide rules for cannabis licensing,” the letter states, claiming Southampton has no legal basis to stand in the way of a state-licensed operation.

Brown Budda challenged local officials, refusing to construct the sidewalk and rolling out its operation without town approval on Nov. 12 — getting dragged back into court because of the defiant decision, and prompting the AG’s office to send the new letter to the judge.

Representatives of Brown Budda had long argued the town’s demands were stalling tactics meant to keep the shop out of operation as it bled millions in loses.

State regulators detailed that they signed off on Brown Budda’s location and issued it a full retail license in 2022, meaning Albany determined its site in Southampton met every requirement needed under New York law years ago. 

Town attorney Jim Burke didn’t respond to a request for comment

A Brown Buddha rep called the AG’s letter vindicating.

“At least two years were taken away from Brown Buddha,” a spokesperson for the shop said.