Her vid says pot not a Cyn
ALBANY — The race for governor went to pot Wednesday.
Actress and gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon released a video calling, once again, for the legalization of marijuana and complaining that New York is falling behind other states on the issue.
Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Cuomo for the Democratic nomination, first announced her support for legalized weed last week.
“In 2018, in a blue state like New York, marijuana shouldn’t even be an issue,” Nixon said in the video. “If there was more political courage coming out of Albany, we would have done this already.”
Cuomo, during an unrelated event in Long Island on Wednesday, disputed Nixon’s claim, noting that in January, he announced plans to have the state Health Department study the health and economic health impacts of legalizing marijuana.
“I think we are actually ahead on (the issue),” Cuomo said.
The governor has previously expressed opposition to the legalization of recreational marijuana use but did, in 2017, propose the decriminalization of pot possession. The proposal died in the Legislature.
Cuomo on Wednesday argued there is still “widespread division” on the issue among legislators but with other states, including Massachusetts, taking action to legalize weed, it was time for New York to look at it.
“I am trying to depoliticize the issue and say let’s get the facts,” Cuomo said Wednesday.
Later in the day, Nixon responded to Cuomo’s comments with a pair of tweets that continued to attack his position.
“You don’t need a study to figure out our marijuana laws are disproportionately putting people of color in jail,” Nixon said in one.
In the other, Nixon linked to a news story from February, 2017, in which Cuomo said he was still opposed to legalizing marijuana and described it as a gateway drug.
“We got the #Receipts, @NYGovCuomo. Last year you attacked marijuana as a ‘gateway drug,’ ” she said in the tweet.
In her video, Nixon said legalizing marijuana would not only bring millions of dollars in added tax revenue to the state but also end “a key front in the racist war on drugs.” She said 80% of New Yorkers arrested for marijuana use are black or Latino.
“We have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity,” Nixon said.