New York has legalized medical cannabis by implementing the Compassionate Care Act in 2014 that follows very strict laws but is carried out by a very expensive program. Just when the COVID-19 started to spread, New York’s lawmakers and advocates were already over a year in the process of legalizing recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older. Political negotiations were made, proposals were presented from all sides but a “final deal” did not take place since, among other things, issues with the tax revenue were not resolved at the time. On top of this, to this day, New York has been hit the hardest by COVID-19 and the numbers are only slowly decreasing with 288,000 affected and over 17,000 deceased.
Just last week, one of the top lawmakers in New York expressed their hope to finally get marijuana legalized this year despite COVID-19 being in the spotlight. Apparently, one of the main hurdles was financial. It just didn’t fit into the governor’s budget anymore that currently needs to be used for effectively diminishing the COVID-19.
Peoples-Stokes, an Assembly District Member recently told WNYC radio that she is determined to see the legalization of recreational cannabis take place or at least move forward this year. In her perspective, the issue with the tax revenue can be resolved by using it from legal sales, as a way to financially support socially and racially disadvantaged communities. Governor Cuomo rather doubts that lawmakers could pass the cannabis reform vote remotely since the deadline for that already took place. However, he is still interested in making cannabis legalized even if it will take a longer time. Critical voices claim that Cuomo isn’t showing enough engagement in the issue in order to legalize recreational cannabis faster.
Despite all of this, it’s not too late for the lawmakers to still remotely negotiate on proposals on marijuana legislation. The Senator Liz Krueger, the lead sponsor of a standalone marijuana legalization bill who doesn’t believe in cannabis prohibition made it clear that even if it was not counted into the state’s budget so far, it still can be included and if not there are other options outthere which in turn will only bring about a delay in the legalization of recreational cannabis.
Other options would be ballot referendums that were used in states, such as California, Nevada, Maine and Oregon. These are usually introduced by lawmakers and activists that collect enough petition signatures to get the referendum on the ballot but it’s been argued that in New York’s case this would be very difficult to achieve due to the special type of infrastructure that it has compared to other states.
At a time, when the COVID-19 is the center of attention, especially in New York, it is understandably difficult to thoroughly discuss other issues but it should not get completely neglected. Ultimately, the cannabis reform would bring long-term economic benefits for everyone in New York as long as the lawmakers and everyone involved in the final decision-making process agree that it is very important for its people and their future.