Bill to Cuo: What’s toking so long?
Mayor de Blasio on Tuesday blasted Gov. Cuomo’s slow rollout of the state’s new pot law.
Hizzoner urged the governor to pick up the pace on completing the process of legalizing weed, telling him and state lawmakers to “wake up” and seal the deal.
“The state of New York needs to get in gear here,” de Blasio said during his daily press briefing.
“We had a big, long, multiyear discussion over legalizing cannabis. We saw the state Legislature act. Now the state needs to do something about it, [and] they still haven’t. It’s time for the state to wake up and do its job on this really important issue.”
As The Post reported Sunday, Cuomo has yet to nominate an executive director for his new Office of Cannabis Management or name appointees to the Cannabis Control Board — despite the governor green-lighting the state’s cannabis- legalization bill in March.
A rep for Cuomo did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment on de Blasio’s remarks.
Due to the governor’s inaction, licenses can’t be issued to start the seed-to-sale weed market, stalling commercial pot sales, critics say.
A rep for the governor on Sunday linked the pot issue to the Legislature’s failure to approve Cuomo’s proposed MTA leadership overhaul.
“We agree there’s a lot of unfinished business with the Senate, and we’re ready to submit our [weed-related] nominations, and we hope [legislators] reconvene and act on these and our MTA legislation and nominations,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi previously said.
In response, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, “I hope it’s not true,” adding, “Obviously, the Cannabis Control Board has nothing to do with the MTA.
“I hope we can work it out, but . . . I think that we have an opportunity to get this cannabis board up and running, and I believe that we need to do that so that we can at least make good on our legislation,” she said Monday evening on “Capital Tonight.”
Meanwhile, de Blasio, when asked about a report on the uptick in children overdosing on pot-infused gummies and other cannabis-laced foods, said Tuesday that parents should “take responsibility” and not allow their children to get their hands on edible weed products.
“If these are in your home, you’ve got to secure them. You can’t let them be anywhere near your kids,” he said, adding a warning to manufacturers:
“The labeling of these products needs to make clear they could be dangerous to children.”