A watched pot

At the end of March, culminating years of advocacy, Gov. Cuomo signed into law legislation cannabis legal for adult use. He correctly called it “a historic day in New York,” “one that rights the wrongs of the past by putting an end to harsh prison sentences, embraces an industry that will grow the Empire State’s economy, and prioritizes marginalized communities so those that have suffered the most will be the first to reap the benefits.”

So after insisting he cares so much, why is Cuomo taking so long to begin the process of hammering out rules and regulations enabled to get the cannabis industry, which by the state’s own estimation could produce $350 million a year and create 30,000 to 60,000 jobs, up and running?

It is now four months since the bill became law. The governor — who often boasts about how he busts through bureaucracy to build bridges and subways — has yet to put anyone in charge of the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, which is charged with enforcing “a comprehensive regulatory framework” for the production, distribution and sale of the product. Nor has he named his three appointees to the Cannabis Control Board, which would make up the majority of that five-member panel. And as of the middle of last month, an Albany TV news team found all emails to the state cannabis management office bouncing back.

“We’re ready to submit our nominations,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi told another paper, wedging in a dig at the state Senate and its dispute with the governor over whether to split the top MTA leadership jobs, which has absolutely zero to do with it.

There are licenses to be issued. Rules on raising the plants to be hammered out, so that New York farmers can supply the state’s legal sellers (already, fearing a lost growing season, upstate state Sen. Jeremy Cooney has proposed a bill letting growers get started before the state office is open).

This isn’t that complicated. Get going.