Governor again seeks marijuana legalization
ALBANY, N.Y. » New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is calling for the legalization and regulation of marijuana for recreational use by adults, his third attempt in as many years to get the drug fully legalized in the state.
Cuomo, a Democrat, announced his proposal Wednesday as part of his upcoming State of the State agenda for the year.
Cuomo pointed to growing acceptance of legalization in the Northeast, including in Massachusetts, Maine and most recently, New Jersey.
The proposal calls for the creation of a new Office of Cannabis Management that would oversee recreational use as well as existing medical use.
It also would offer licensing opportunities for those in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by law enforcement efforts against marijuana to become entrepreneurs in the
new recreational market.
Cuomo’s latest legalization proposal follows two unsuccessful attempts in 2019 and 2020 to fully legalize marijuana, which both fell short despite Democrats’ 2018 win of both chambers of the Legislature.
In 2019, New York softened some criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana and launched a process to automatically expunge the records of thousands of individuals convicted of lowlevel possession crimes.
Democrats won a vetoproof supermajority in November — and supporters are hoping legalization will gain momentum.
“New Yorkers have spoken in the streets and at the polls: they demanded that lawmakers dismantle systemic racism, and that begins with how we legalize marijuana,” New York Civil Liberties Union senior policy counsel Michael Sisitzky said in a statement. “It is time for lawmakers in Albany to step up, stop the harm and start repairing the damage to Black and Brown New Yorkers whose lives have been needlessly destroyed by racist drug policies across our state for far too long.”
But Cuomo’s proposal will still need buy-in from Democrats from swing suburban districts, who have long cited concerns that legalization would lead to more impaired driving and more children smoking pot.
Kevin Sabet, the president of advocacy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which is opposed to legalization, called the idea “social injustice” that would benefit “wealthy, connect investors and multi-state operators.”
“In the midst of an unprecedented respiratory pandemic and overdose epidemic, it is a terrible idea to commercialize high potency, dangerous pot products,” Sabet, a former drug policy advisor to former President Barack Obama. “It is a risky proposition for New York, and it won’t make anyone other than a few investors rich.”