USA.- New York officially legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes on Wednesday, after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the law that makes the state the 16th in the United States to regulate it.
“This is a historic day in New York, in which the mistakes of the past are corrected by ending harsh prison sentences, in which an industry is welcomed that will grow the economy of the ‘Empire State’ (New York) and that it gives priority to marginalized communities so that those who have suffered the most are the first to reap the benefits, “said Cuomo after signing the document approved by both houses of the New York Legislature last night.
New York follows in the footsteps of 14 other states and the District of Columbia in passing the bill that legalizes the recreational use of marijuana for those 21 and older, after hours of intense debate on Tuesday.
The Senate Legislative Majority Leader, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, called the new law a “first step in addressing the disparities caused by the war on drugs.”
“This effort has spanned years and finally we have achieved what many thought was impossible, a law that legalizes marijuana while supporting social equality, strengthening education and protecting public health,” said Stewart-Cousins, quoted in a statement from the governor’s office.
For her part, Liz Krueger, the state senator who led the efforts to move this law forward, welcomed its passage and insisted that it “will end years of policy failures to ban marijuana.”
Its regularization could generate 350 million dollars in annual taxes and would create between 30,000 and 60,000 jobs, according to its defenders.
The fiscal hole caused by the covid-19 pandemic has been one of the reasons that has unblocked the debate on the legalization of marijuana and has accelerated its approval, according to analysts.
Krueger also stressed that the legalization will activate a plan for social and economic equality, as well as the establishment of a state fund to manage the profits obtained from the sale of marijuana.
The goal is to benefit communities of color that have traditionally been the most punished and persecuted for the use of this drug.
In this sense, the law will also promote that licenses for the sale of derivative products favor these communities.
But the law, which had been discussed for several years in the corridors of the state parliament, but without finding the necessary support, also has numerous detractors who argue, among other things, that its normalization will harm minors or generate an increase in the traffic accidents.
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