New York State is within 48 hours of joining the ranks of 10 other states where recreational marijuana is legal, or doing the same thing its neighbor New Jersey did during this legislative session -- coming incredibly close to passing a legalization measure, only to see it shot down.
"I am cautiously optimistic," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday morning about the prospect of a recreational marijuana legalization measure passing.
As I’ve often said, there are several central things that legalization must include if it is to live up to the name. One of the main components legalization must come with is allowance for home growing.
As lawmakers in New York continue to battle over adult-use legalization as time runs out, one of the new bills put forward would include home growing of up to six plants by those 21 years of age and older – something not included in Governor Cuomo’s legalization plan.
Sources tell CBS2’s Marcia Kramer three-way talks about marijuana legalization were conducted between Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, the Senate and the Assembly on Saturday.
Talks resumed on Sunday, but a deal has not been reached.
New bills are required to age for three days before a vote, so if a deal is not printed by Monday the governor would have to issue a message of necessity to bypass the usual process and allow lawmakers to vote by the Wedensday deadline.
New Yorkers love to joke about its little brother New Jersey, ribbing any and all of that state’s shortcomings, but the pair are two peas on a pod when it comes to marijuana reform. Just as New Jersey did before, New York poised itself as the next state to legalize recreational marijuana but lacks enough support from lawmakers to do so.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is citing a lack of political action in Trenton as one of the factors in Albany's unwillingness to give the green light to legalize weed in New York state.
"When New Jersey didn't pass it, some of the wind came out of the political sail," Cuomo said Monday.
He told reporters that he doesn't believe there is sufficient support to pass the measure in the state Senate.
Advocates of legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes scored their most significant legislative victory of the year Friday when the Illinois state House gave final approval to a measure allowing residents over the age of 21 to purchase and use cannabis products.
But their win in Springfield comes at the end of a string of defeats in what was supposed to be a banner year for legalization. Even supporters of recreational use acknowledge their legislative agenda has run into more roadblocks than they expected.
A mother and her two daughters who run the only women-owned medical marijuana dispensary in the state say it's time for New York to legalize recreational marijuana.
Amy, Hillary and Keely Peckham operate Etain Health in Yonkers.
"I definitely think that's where we're heading. If you look at Massachusetts, which is a bordering state, they've already opened their recreational program and so I think it would be an opportunity, an economic one at that, for New York state,” says Hillary Peckham.
A drive to include adult-use cannabis legalization in the New York Legislature’s 2019 state budget failed last month. There was a dispute over taxes and the framework that an industry would take, but conservative lawmakers also played a role in killing it off.
Sponsors of the legislation are now working on introducing a new bill that they hope stands a better chance of passing into law.
The truth is New Jersey should have legalized recreational marijuana a long time ago. Gov. Phil Murphy said during his campaign that he was going to make legalization one of his top priorities during his first 100 days in office. It was a move that Senate President Stephen Sweeney believed could be squared up by April of last year, allowing recreational sales to begin in 2019.
But lawmakers were never able to come to terms.
On the statewide scene, cannabis advocates had New York and New Jersey pegged as the great green hope. Both states were expected to become the next to legalize marijuana for recreational use. It was a step that would have shown the country, specifically the goons in Congress, just how far the U.S. has progressed from the times when weed was considered mostly taboo. However, all hope of this happening has gone to the proverbial crap shack, according to the New York Times. Both jurisdictions have essentially thrown in the towel on the prospect of legal weed.