New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
Andrew CuomoOvernight Health Care: Biden will quickly launch almost all doses of the vaccine | FDA chief urges states to allow vaccination of low priority groups | Biden predicts COVID-19 proposal ‘in the trillions of dollars’ Under pressure, Cuomo expands the eligibility of the Cuomo vaccine: ‘I urge President Trump to resign’ MORE (D) promised on Monday that his state will legalize recreational cannabis as it begins to step up efforts in the new year for the green light legislation to legalize it.
“We are going to legalize recreational cannabis for adult use, joining 15 states that have already done so,” he tweeted on Monday. The change, Cuomo said, “will increase revenue and end the failed ban on this product, which has left so many communities of color over-policed and incarcerated.”
We are going to legalize recreational cannabis for adult use, joining 15 states that have already done so.
This will increase revenue and end the failed ban on this product, which has left so many communities of color over-policed and incarcerated.# SOTS2021
– Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 11, 2021
Last week, Cuomo, who has made efforts in the past to legalize recreational marijuana in the state, announced a new proposal that aimed to legalize and establish an office that would oversee and regulate marijuana.
Cuomo’s office said in the announcement that the new agency would oversee the state’s adult use program, in addition to the state’s “existing cannabinoid and medical hemp programs”.
“In addition, a fair framework for the adult market will be created, offering licensing opportunities and assistance to entrepreneurs in communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs,” said his office.
The state estimated at the time that legalizing recreational marijuana would help raise more than $ 300 million in tax revenue.
It is Cuomo’s most recent effort to legalize recreational use in the state, which previously legalized medical marijuana. It also comes after pressure for legalization hit an obstacle in the New York state legislature last year, after lawmakers failed to agree on the allocation of tax revenue.
“I supported this for years. I tried to get through, but this is a year when we need funding and a lot of New Yorkers are struggling. So I think this year will give us the impetus to cross the goal line, ”said Cuomo last week.
“Not only will legalizing and regulating the adult cannabis market provide the opportunity to generate much-needed revenue, but it will also allow us to directly support individuals and communities that have been most harmed by decades of banning cannabis,” he said last week.
Cuomo’s renewed pressure to legalize recreational marijuana comes just over a year after he signed legislation that saw his state join several others in decriminalizing marijuana use, while providing some marijuana convicts a way for your records to be deleted.
Since then, the topic of decriminalization has also gained more traction on Capitol Hill, with the House in December passing legislation that aims to decriminalize drugs across the country.