Senate passes pot legalization bill
New York would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana and eventually allow marijuana sales to people over the age of 21 under a bill that’s among the nation’s most sweeping and passed the Senate with a party-line 40-23 vote Tuesday.
Once it passes the Assembly as expected, legislative leaders would send the bill to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The governor has ten days to approve or veto a bill once it lands on his desk — otherwise, the bill becomes law. He has said he will sign it.
Criminal justice reform groups and advocates for minority communities hardhit by the decades-long War on Drugs have hailed the state’s bill as particularly sweeping: New York would set a target of ensuring 50% of marijuana licenses go to underrepresented communities, and join a handful of states to automatically expunge past marijuana-related convictions.
“We have literally destroyed the lives of multiple thousands of people,” Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes said. “That’s what’s good about this legislation .... We’re going to turn around the lives of some of those people and help them to be able to take care of themselves, their families and their communities.”
“I’m driving this because I want people to be free from incarceration for a drug that people in their communities use every day,” she said.
New York, which has failed to legalize marijuana for years despite Democratic control of the Legislature and governor’s office, would become at least the 16th state to legalize marijuana sales to adults. New York would become the third state where lawmakers, rather than voters, have approved legalization.
Many parts of the legislation would take effect immediately: New Yorkers could legally possess less than three ounces of marijuana outside the home — a 2019 state law removed criminal penalties for possession of two ounces.
New York would start automatically expunging records of people with past convictions for marijuanarelated offenses that would no longer be criminalized. That’s a step beyond a 2019 law that expunged many past convictions for marijuana possession.
And once the bill becomes law, law enforcement in New York won’t be able to arrest or prosecute anyone for offenses that are now decriminalized. A police officer could still use the odor of burnt cannabis as a reason to suspect a driver is intoxicated, but the officer couldn’t use that smell alone as justification for searching a car for contraband.