America's Cannabis legalisation: New York may be next, By Paul James
Legal Cannabis in New York
On Tuesday, November 3rd, four more states were added to the list of those that allow recreational sale and possession of cannabis: New Jersey, Arizona, Montana, and South Dakota. Not to mention, Mississippi has officially legalized medicinal marijuana sales and Oregon has legalized psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic purposes.
It was a big day for America with over one-third of the country now having a legal right to consume cannabis. However, the hype is far from over.
According to New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, the state will legalize cannabis by April of next year. With measures being enacted as early as January.
If the Empire State were to legalize, that would give nearly 20 million more people access to legal cannabis and set a standard the rest of the country is bound to follow. Throughout this article, we’re going to explore New York’s legalization initiative and what other states to keep an eye out for in future elections.
Legal Cannabis in New York, Long in the making
At the start of the pandemic, New York was one of the states hit the hardest. Not just in terms of COVID-19 cases, but also financially. More and more New Yorkers are leaving by the day and, with that, there’s a huge economic decline from what was once considered the financial capital of the world.
While there have been many ideas tossed around about how to bring back this economy, cannabis seems to be one of the most promising. Illinois is a prime example as they just started legally selling cannabis this past January and had seen over $100 million in tax revenue by October.
It’s obvious New York has been keeping a close eye on Illinois and plans to implement some of the measures the state took with this extra income. Cuomo has already discussed prioritizing social equity programs along with his hopes for economic development.
However, New York is paying even closer attention to neighboring state New Jersey. As mentioned, New Jersey had recreational cannabis on the ballot this past election day. Voters showed their voices with nearly 70% in favor of legalization.
“We’re watching New Jersey closely,” noted Alex Bernabe, Assistant Council of Cuomo’s office, told Canopy Growth Corporation. “We’ve always been confident that we’d get to this before New Jersey. So, if they pass the referendum, they still have to have an agreement between the governor and the Senate over there.”
Unfortunately for New Yorkers, New Jersey has already beat them to it. A top New Jersey senator made it clear to pass the enacting bill as early as the first week of November. While Cuomo has attempted before to make legalization a thing, he consistently finds himself in stalled negotiations with New York’s legislature.
“We’re working on this,” Bernabe assured. “We’re going to reintroduce this in our budget in January. We think we can get it done by April 1st.”
Cuomo’s plans for legalization in April include furthering public safety and continuing economic development. However, he also speaks of social equity programs for communities who have been most impacted by the war on drugs. Being as New York is keeping such a close eye on other states who’ve already legalized, they plan to learn from their faults and work to improve legalization measures.
Regulations for the Hemp and CBD industry
Cuomo’s plans don’t stop at recreational cannabis itself. He also wants to further regulate cannabinoids derived from the hemp plant - most notably, cannabidiol (CBD). Existing rules will continue to protect those growing hemp for uses beyond CBD products. However, throughout 2021, Cuomo wants to make some “final tweaks” to New York’s CBD industry.
“We’re excited because we’ve taken the bull by the horns - so to speak,” Bernabe discussed. “I think people recognize that there are a lot of sectors or product lines that haven’t really had some thorough regulation attached to them. You can pick a number of them, but probably the most high-profile or obvious ones are something like vapes - so, CBD or other cannabinoid extract vapes. Flower, even some tinctures, and foods and beverages.”
Food and drinks are some of the most notable regulations Cuomo has in mind. One idea they’ve been tossing around is putting a maximum limit of 25 milligrams (mg) of CBD per dose within drinks.
“We’re really looking at every product class and trying to strike a balance between consumer protection and letting people have what they’re obviously using extensively for health and wellness.”
One issue with this is it’s almost guaranteed Cuomo and his staff don’t consume cannabinoids of any kind. With that, their regulations will be based on the information that’s out there. And if you’ve been around this industry as much as we have, you already know there’s a ton of misinformation surrounding CBD and hemp.
What other states are bound to legalize
Cuomo and many others project the idea that New York will become the blueprint for other states who want to legalize. Especially those that are so close and still haven’t taken action, like Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania.
While we’ll have to wait and see whether this holds true or not, it’s almost certain more states will follow New York and legalize. As mentioned, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the country into a recession many are eager to get out of. Cannabis may just be the answer.
With that said, there are a few states to keep an eye out for:
Arkansas
There have been recent efforts made by the Drug Policy Education group to not only spread information concerning cannabis but collect signatures in favor of legalization. Arkansans for Cannabis Reform had proposed an initiative in July 2019 that would give already-established medicinal marijuana shops the right to sell to a recreational market.
While there hasn’t been much information surrounding where these efforts have gone, it is known that by January of this year, the group had collected 10,000 of the 90,000 signatures required for the ballot. The Marijuana Policy Project has given endorsement to these efforts but hasn’t offered much funding.
Admittedly, Arkansas is a very red state that doesn’t seem to have as much of a desire to legalize cannabis as other states. However, with the right education and efforts from groups such as Arkansans for Cannabis Reform, an official initiative may be just over the horizon.
Florida
We don’t have the highest hopes for Florida legalizing as soon as other states on this list. The fact that they had banned cannabis flower for medicinal purposes until recently shows the mindset lawmakers within the state have.
However, initiatives for recreational use have been developed over the past few years. Most of these efforts are prompted by the organization Make It Legal Florida who collected around 390,000 signatures last November confirming that those in the Sunshine State are interested in adult-use cannabis.
Pennsylvania
In October 2019, two Democratic state senators introduced a legalization bill that would focus on development for small businesses along with social equity. That September, Governor Tom Wolf pleaded legislature took a closer look into the policy reform.
Unfortunately, Pennslyvania is a fairly red state and hasn’t found any significant Republican support. However, this hasn’t stopped talks about making reform efforts within the state.
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is officially surrounded by legal territories - whether it’s their neighboring states of Vermont, Maine, and Massachusetts or the Canadians to the north. With that said, there have been about a dozen cannabis-related bills filed for the 2020 legislative session - two of which were for recreational legalization.
Unfortunately, Governor Chris Sununu opposes legalization and thwarted these efforts. However, his mind may have changed since these initiatives were initially made as the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on the economy.
North Dakota
With neighboring state South Dakota legalizing both medicinal and recreational cannabis on the same day (a first in the history of this country), North Dakota has been considering similar actions. The organization Legalize ND had released an adult-use ballot initiative back in July 2019 - through, there were little to no actions taken concerning this measure.
Legalize ND was hoping to place specific limits on cannabis possession, set in place a 10% tax on all products sold in dispensaries, and ban home grow efforts. While these regulations would potentially appeal to the Republican dominant state, they have yet to make any effect.
Virginia
Within the past few months, Virginia opened up their first medicinal cannabis dispensary. Now there are plans for a cannabis legalization bill. The first attempts by Del. Steve Heretick were admittedly stalled in the legislature.
However, further efforts are continuing to be made with the Marijuana Policy Project showing much commitment to the state.
Written and Published By Paul James in Weed World Magazine issue 149
Images: Unsplashed
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