Push to legalize pot fails
Proposed legislation allowing recreational uses lacks full support from state leaders
ALBANY, N.Y. >> A push to legalize recreational marijuana in New York state has failed after state leaders did not reach a consensus on several key details in the final days of the legislative session.
Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat and the lead sponsor of the main legalization bill in her chamber, confirmed Wednesday that her legislation would not pass this year.
“Through months of negotiation and conversation ... we made great strides,” she said in a statement. “We came very close to crossing the finish line, but we ran out of time.”
Despite broad support for legalization and
polls showing its statewide popularity, lawmakers couldn’t agree on the many details of legalization, such as how tax revenue should be spent, whether past pot convictions should be expunged, and whether local communities could opt out of hosting dispensaries or instead would have to opt in.
For supporters who had hoped the nation’s fourthmost populous state would soon join the growing list of states where recreational pot is legal, the failure of the bill was a significant disappointment. They’ll now turn their attention toward next year, an election year, in which legalization may be an even tougher political challenge.
With lawmakers set to adjourn this week, some supporters hope there is time to pass a more modest bill to eliminate criminal penalties for possession of marijuana and create a process for people to clear their records of past pot convictions.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who proposed his own legalization legislation back in January, said he would support further decriminalization.
Under current law, those caught with small amounts of marijuana are subject to fines, and not misdemeanor charges. But police can still arrest people for smoking pot in public, a wrinkle legalization advocates say is too often used to target young racial minorities.
“Communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by laws governing marijuana for far too long and it has to end,” Cuomo said in a statement Wednesday. “The time to act is now.”
The so-called “plan B” bill would also expand access to the state’s medical marijuana program and seek to boost the state’s hemp industry.
Illinois is poised to become the 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana after lawmakers in that state approved legalization legislation last month. Two of New York’s neighbors, Massachusetts and Vermont, have already taken the step.
Cuomo included his legalization proposal in his state budget recommendation but pulled the measure after lawmakers couldn’t reach consensus.
He warned at the time that the decision to consider marijuana legalization on its own would make it harder to pass. The effort lost further momentum when lawmakers in nextdoor New Jersey failed to pass their own legalization efforts.