New York state may see potential tax dollars go up in a puff of pot smoke.
With New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy leading a fast-track push to legalize recreational marijuana, pot dispensaries could soon be as close as a seven-minute train ride from Manhattan. Once people start hopping the PATH train to Jersey City to purchase marijuana, New York lawmakers will start feeling pressure about losing taxable sales, said Hadley Ford, chief executive officer of pot retailer iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc.
As the date of the New York Democratic primary election draws near, Gov. Andrew Cuomo traded barbs with challenger and former Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon in a gubernatorial debate that touched on issues of corruption, experience, and legal cannabis. During his previous two terms as governor, Cuomo has opposed any attempts to legalize pot in the Empire State, but ever since Nixon announced that pot legalization was a major part of her political platform, the incumbent began changing his tune on marijuana.
New York moved a significant step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana, as a study commissioned by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will recommend that the state allow adults to consume marijuana legally, the governor’s health commissioner said on Monday.
The announcement by the commissioner, Howard Zucker, signals a broad turnaround for the administration of Mr. Cuomo, a second-term Democrat who said as recently as last year that marijuana was a “gateway drug.”
Among the big, blue states, New York has been wildly backward on marijuana law. That may finally be changing. Governor Andrew Cuomo – who as recently as last year touted the prohibitionist myth that marijuana is a "gateway drug" – is about to receive a report from the state's health commissioner recommending a framework for legal, regulated marijuana in New York.
With attendees like Cynthia Nixon -- of "Sex and the City" fame and a Democratic challenger to Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- the annual Cannabis Parade took place in Manhattan's Union Square on Saturday.
While Nixon has been vocal about her desire to legalize marijuana, there were 300 others who took part in the event.
Marchers held signs with slogans, like "pot power," and chanted sayings, such as "legalize don't demonize."
It took nearly five decades, but the New York Cannabis Parade has finally gone mainstream. “We have an unprecedented lineup of elected officials this year,” says co-organizer Noah Potter, an attorney specializing in drug policy. “We’ve never had anything comparable.”
The “very bold and forward-thinking” City Councilman Rafael Espinal was the first elected official to participate in the march, and that was just in 2015. In 2018, there are seven politicians taking part; New York governor hopeful Cynthia Nixon has also come out in support for legalization.
Cynthia Nixon was high on legalizing weed but didn’t inhale as her fellow demonstrators openly toked during an annual pot parade in Manhattan Saturday.
“Arresting people for cannabis — particularly people of color — is the crown jewel for the racist war on drugs and we must pluck it down,” Nixon said at the NYC Cannabis Parade and Rally across from the Union Square Whole Foods.