Pennsylvania and New Jersey took steps to open more MMJ dispensaries, the latest sign that the East Coast cannabis market, in particular, is gathering momentum.
While Pennsylvania’s new permits are simply regulators fulfilling what that state’s original 2016 MMJ law intended, New Jersey’s move is a distinct expansion of a system that has been in place since 2010.
Both developments underscore how the cannabis industry is ballooning as patients and doctors continue to realize the medical benefits of marijuana.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for the legalization of recreational cannabis Monday, according to published reports.
Cuomo included the legalization of recreational cannabis during a speech regarding his legislative priorities for the first part of 2019, reported WNBC.
If New York legalizes a recreational market, it would be the second-biggest state to do so after California and — if it beats New Jersey — the 11th state in the union.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that he would push to legalize recreational marijuana next year, a move that could bring in more than $1.3 billion in revenue annually and put New York in line with several neighboring states.
The highly anticipated proposal came in a speech Mr. Cuomo gave in Manhattan on Monday, in which he outlined his agenda for the first 100 days of his third term.
Some state and city leaders have started to discuss the idea of making recreational marijuana legal and using the revenue to pay for badly-needed and expensive subway upgrades. The proposal could face improved odds in Albany now that Democrats have taken full control of the State Legislature for the first time in a decade.
A bottle of red. A baggie of weed.
As lawmakers in Albany draft a bill to legalize adult use of marijuana, a coalition of wine and liquor store owners is campaigning for the right to stock their shelves with the product.
Organizers of The Last Store on Main Street (LSMS), which recently fought to keep wine out of grocery stores, said the effort is motivated in part by the fear of losing business.
Around the nation and in New York, talk has turned from “if” to “when” and “how” marijuana may be made legal for recreational use. Even if Republicans manage to keep control of the state Senate, there are likely to be enough among them who understand why it is so important for New York to avoid the usual Albany impasse — stubbornly refusing to bring this issue to a vote — and give it the thorough examination it deserves.
New York state is hosting three public listening sessions this week in New York City to gather input on proposals to legalize recreational marijuana.
The meetings are scheduled for Monday in Queens, Tuesday in Brooklyn and Wednesday on Staten Island.
Several listening sessions have already been held upstate, and more are planned throughout the state.
On Friday two more in Westchester and Suffolk counties were added to the calendar for October.
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.
The state Assembly will seek public input on legalizing marijuana in New York at four hearings this fall.
The hearings are being planned by Assembly members Joseph Lentol, Richard Gottfried, Crystal Peoples-Stokes and Linda Rosenthal. Peoples-Stokes has sponsored a bill to regulate and tax the adult use of marijuana in New York.