New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Andrew CuomoOvernight Health Care: Biden to Quickly Release Almost All Vaccine Doses | FDA chief urges states to allow vaccination of lower priority groups | Biden previews COVID-19 proposal ‘in the trillions of dollars’ Under pressure, Cuomo to increase suitability for vaccines Cuomo: ‘I call on President Trump to step down’ MORE (D) vowed on Monday that his state will legalize recreational cannabis as he begins to ramp up efforts in the new year to give the green light to legalize it.
“We will legalize recreational cannabis for adults and join 15 states that have already done so,” he tweeted Monday. The move, Cuomo said, will “generate revenue and end the failed ban on this product, leaving so many colored communities over-controlled and too trapped.”
We will legalize recreational cannabis for adults and join 15 states that have already done so.
This will increase revenues and end the failed ban on this product, leaving so many colored communities over-controlled and too trapped.# SOTS2021
– Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) January 11, 2021
Last week, Cuomo, who has made past efforts to make recreational marijuana legal in the state, announced a new proposal that aims to legalize and establish an office that oversees and supervises cannabis.
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 medical and cannabinoid hemp programs.”
In addition, a fair structure for the adult-use market will be created by providing licensing opportunities and assistance to entrepreneurs in communities of color disproportionately affected by the war on drugs, his office said.
At the time, the state estimated that recreational marijuana legalization would help bring in more than $ 300 million in tax revenue.
It is Cuomo’s latest attempt to legalize recreational use in the state, which previously legalized medical marijuana. It also comes after a push for legalization hit a roadblock in the New York state legislature last year after lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on tax revenue allocation.
“I’ve been supporting it for years. I’ve been trying to make it, but this is a year where we need the funding, and a lot of New Yorkers are struggling. So I think this year will give us the momentum to get it over the goal line, ”said Cuomo last week.
“Legalizing and regulating the adult cannabis market not only provides the opportunity to generate much-needed revenue, but it also allows us to directly support the individuals and communities most harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition,” he said. also. last week.
Cuomo’s renewed effort to legalize recreational marijuana comes just over a year after he signed legislation that saw his state join a number of others to decriminalize marijuana use, while some also received marijuana convictions with a way to delete their data.
In the following year, the topic of decriminalization also received more attention on Capitol Hill, when the House passed legislation in December to decriminalize the drug nationwide.