New York lawmakers agree to push for law to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana

The state of New York is poised to join the growing number of states that have legalized marijuana after state lawmakers reached an overnight agreement to allow the drug to be sold for recreational use.

Democrats, who now have a veto-proof majority in the state Legislature, have made passage a priority this year, and the Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo‘s administration has estimated that legalization could eventually bring the state about $350 million annually.

“My goal in carrying out this legislation has always been to end the racially disparate application of the prohibition of marijuana that has affected communities of color across our state so much, and use the windfall from legalization to help heal and repair those same communities,” said Senator Liz Krueger, a sponsor of the bill in the Senate and chair of the Senate finance committee.

At least 14 other states already allow residents to buy marijuana for recreational and not just medical use, but past efforts of New York to approve the legalization of the marijuana they have failed in recent years.

The legislation would allow the sale of recreational marijuana to adults over 21 years of age and would establish a licensing process for the delivery of products from cannabis to the clients.

Individual New Yorkers could grow up to three mature and three immature plants for personal consumption, and local governments could choose not to participate in retail sales.

The legislation would go into effect immediately if passed, although sales will not begin until New York establish rules and a board of cannabis proposal.

Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes estimated Friday that sales could take anywhere from 18 months to two years to start.

Adam Goers, Vice President of Columbia Care, a provider of marihuana medicinal from New York interested in entering the recreational market, said the state’s proposed system “It would ensure that newcomers have a chance in the market” together with suppliers of marihuana medicinal already existing.

“There is a great cake in which many different people can be part of it”, dijo Goers.

New York would establish a tax on sales of cannabis 9%, plus an additional 4% tax between the county and local government. It would also impose an additional tax based on the level of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, which ranges from 0.5 cents per milligram of flower to 3 cents per milligram of edibles.

The state would eliminate penalties for possession of less than three ounces of cannabis and would automatically delete the records of people with previous convictions for crimes related to the marijuana that they would no longer be penalized.

That’s a step beyond a 2019 law that removed many previous convictions for possession of marijuana and reduced the penalty for possession of small amounts.

AND New York would provide loans, grants, and incubator programs to encourage participation in the food industry to people from minority communities, as well as small farmers, women and disabled veterans.

Advocates have said the measure could create thousands of jobs and begin to address the racial injustice of a decades-long war on drugs that disproportionately targeted minorities and poor communities.

“Police, prosecutors, children’s services and ICE have used criminalization as a weapon against them, and the impact this bill will have on the lives of our oversized clients cannot be overstated.” Alice Fontier, general manager of the Harlem Neighborhood Advocacy Service, said in a statement Saturday.

The Legal Aid Society of New York he also praised the agreement. “This landmark legislation brings justice to the state of New York by ending the ban, eliminating conviction records that have reduced opportunities for countless predominantly Black and Latino New Yorkers, and providing economic justice to ensure that communities that have suffered the brunt of the marijuana aggressive and disparate law enforcement is the first to monetize.” The group said in a press release on Sunday.

Melissa Moore, Director of the Drug Policy Alliance for the State of New York, said the bill “It really puts a nail in the coffin of the war on drugs that has been so devastating to the communities of New York and puts in place comprehensive policies that are truly community-based reinvestment ”.

Cuomo has signaled the growing acceptance of legalization in the Northeast, including Massachusetts, Maine, and more recently New Jersey.

Previous efforts to legalize recreational use have been hurt by a lack of support from suburban Democrats, disagreements over how to distribute sales tax revenue from marijuana and questions about how to approach drivers suspected of drugged driving.

He has also faced opposition from advocates from law enforcement, schools and the community, who warn that legalization will put additional pressure on a health care system already overwhelmed by the pandemic of coronavirus and it will send mixed messages to young people.

“We are in the middle of the pandemic of COVID-19, and with the severe youth vaping crisis and continuing opioid epidemic, this harmful legislation is counterintuitive,” said an open letter signed by the State Medical Society of New York, the State Parent Teacher Association of New York, Sheriff’s Association of New York and various other organizations.

State officials plan to launch an education and prevention campaign aimed at reducing the risk of cannabis among school-age children, and schools could get grants for drug and anti-vaping awareness and prevention programs.

And the state will also launch a study scheduled for December 31, 2022, examining the extent to which the cannabis it affects driving and whether it depends on factors such as time and metabolism.

“One of the things that no country in the world has and that everyone wants is a way to quickly and easily find out if someone is drugged or affected by it,” said R. Lorraine Collins, a psychologist at the University at Buffalo and professor of community health and health behavior.

“Research is being done to find systems that can do that. But I think those efforts won’t materialize for a while. ” Collins.

The bill also sets aside revenue to cover the costs of everything from regulating the marijuana to substance abuse prevention.

The state police could also raise funds to hire and train so-called “Experts in drug recognition.”

But there is no evidence that drug recognition experts can tell whether someone is drugged or not, according to Collins, who was appointed to the task force of Cuomo in 2018 in charge of drafting the regulations of the cannabis.

“I think it is very important that we address that challenge using science and research and not wishes or unsubstantiated claims,” Collins said.

Collins pointed to a 2020 report from the American Civil Liberties Union that found that blacks are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for possession of marijuana compared to whites, according to FBI statistics.

“Every New Yorker should be concerned about how these laws will be implemented or how those ways of testing drivers will be implemented in different communities.” Collins said.

The bill allows cities, towns and villages to opt out of allowing retail dispensaries of cannabis for adult or consumer licenses in place by passing a local law before December 31, 2021 or nine months after the effective date of the legislation. They cannot opt ​​for legalization.