Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a proposal to legalize and create a comprehensive system to oversee and regulate the sale of marijuana in New York as part of the 2021 State of the State, held Jan. 6.
Under the governor’s proposal, an Office of Cannabis Management would be created to oversee the new adult-use program, as well as the state existing medical and cannabinoid hemp programs.
The governor’s office added in a statement that an equitable structure for the adult-use market will be created by offering licensing opportunities and assistance to entrepreneurs in communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Once fully implemented, legalization is expected to generate more than $300 million in tax revenue.
“Despite the many challenges New York has faced amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also created a number of opportunities to correct longstanding wrongs and build New York back better than ever before,” Cuomo said. “Not only will legalizing and regulating the adult-use cannabis market provide the opportunity to generate much-needed revenue, but it also allows us to directly support the individuals and communities that have been most harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition.”
Robert F. Mujica Jr., director of the state Division of the Budget, was also present and said that while making the legalization effective would take time, it could prove to have great rewards.
“Marijuana has a longer just runway by the time you set it up, but by the time it’s fully effective under our proposal you’ll get about $300 million a year,” Mujica said. “But again, that will take several years to get up to those numbers.”
A 2018 multi-agency study led by the state health department concluded that the positive impacts of legalizing adult-use cannabis far outweighed the negatives. It also found that decades of cannabis prohibition have failed to achieve public health and safety goals and have led to unjust arrests and convictions particularly in communities of color.
As a result of the study, in 2019 Cuomo signed legislation to decriminalize the penalties for unlawful possession of marijuana. The legislation also put forth a process to expunge records for certain marijuana convictions.
“Recreational marijuana, I think, this should’ve been passed years ago,” Cuomo said. “I think too many people have been imprisoned, and incarcerated, and punished. Too many of those people are Black, Latino, and poor. It’s exaggerated the injustice of the justice system. So, I’ve supported it for years. I’ve tried to pass it, but this is a year where we do need the funding, and a lot of New Yorkers are struggling. So, I think this year will give us the momentum to get it over the goal line.”
Even if the measure passes, it may not come to Nassau County, as County Executive Laura Curran announced her opposition to the sale of recreational marijuana in the county in 2019, asking the county Legislature to file bills to opt-out of the sale of marijuana. Two bills were introduced into the legislature regarding the opt-out since but were not passed.
