Marijuana did turn out to be a gateway drug: Colorado has now legalized psychedelic mushrooms.
When I was in college I read a science fiction short story about all activities having recommended drugs. Someone who tried doing something without a drug just got depressed, proving addictivity.
A very small, but intensely committed group holding a minority opinion can impose this opinion on the majority. I imagine this is even worse when that minority opinion is the status quo buttressed by decades of lies and brainwashing.
There's even science on this:
http://scnarc.rpi.edu/content/minority-rules-scientists-discover-tipping-point-spread-ideas
I'd like to know of those who are against legalizing marijuana, what is their position on Casinos? We have more Casinos in the U.S. than ever and many are not Native American Casinos. I ask this because I see people bring up "Public Safety"
1
Almost all the states that have "legalized" marijuana, in any form, have done so through referendum votes bypassing the legislative process. Not all states allow this. The Big Marijuana industry has played it smart by targeting those states, bypassing the deliberative legislative process, appealing directly to the people.
The industry has promoted marijuana as harmless and even beneficial (medical). They have confused the issue by talking of hemp (most don't know the difference). They have tried to link it to social justice issues (not a use concern), movies &TV have shown use as casual and "harmless". Celebrities have endorsed it. All attempt to normalize use.
Now that Big Marijuana has succeeded in making some form of marijuana legal in half the states, usage and demand are surging. The newest con is tax benefits.
Those states contemplating legalization through their legislatures are able to hear the pros and cons of medical claims, tax issues, regulation issues, etc., etc. and make more informed decisions. Unfortunately, for Big Marijuana, the hype and deliberately misleading narrative of the past 15-20 years is being exposed by research, health statistics and the experiences of those states that have legalized it.
Now that Big Marijuana has got their way by conning the public, in states that they could, they are now facing push back by states that can look closer at the issue through the legislative process and make better-informed decisions.
2
Interesting how the cops are always in favor of laws that fine people for incidental things as a way to enrich the state's coffers, but when it comes to the massive tax windfall that legalizing marijuana would represent, they want no part. Besides, legalization would remove one more nuisance arrest and reason for harassment that feeds the American cop soul. Can't have that now, can we?
3
I went to LA last fall to visit a friend, and driving on a street in the Valley, he suddenly turns into a parking lot with a few cars. We went through the building entrance, I showed my NY State License (I was also wearing my Yankee cap), and we were waved in through another security door to a well lit showroom with counters, plantings and posted prices... So painless a process, I only wish that the powers to be, bring it to those who want it (legally) in NY/NY/CT...
3
The most progressive thing NY state can do regarding legalization is to tax it at the same rate it taxes tobacco and booze. Nothing more nothing less. When a regulated product is offered at the same price as the street then the consumer will choose the product they can trust I.E. We’d all rather buy apples certified organic from the state then the same apples from a stranger showing up at our apartment as long they’re the same price or at least the same price range.
1
A sustained Democratic primary campaign against any and all prohibitionists, being sure to use that word often, would be helpful here. Add to that a dash of social justice: Let's face it - it's public knowledge that the Controlled Substances Act was based on lies and millions of lives have been destroyed for purely political reasons. Reparations are owed.
Politicians must never be allowed to be comfortable. Run this campaign and instill a healthy dose of fear in the NY/NJ Democratic establishments.
3
Grow up, NY! Legalize marijuana
5
One of my concerns about legalization is crossing New York City Streets — and even walking on sidewalks. With more and more messenger bicyclists and motorized scooters in the mix, and an aging population with body part replacements trying to navigate this jungle, I foresee untold accidents.
The Drug and Alcohol Crash Risk report, DOT HS 812 117 February 2015, produced by the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, found that while drunken driving dramatically increased the risk of getting into an accident, there was no evidence that using marijuana heightened that risk.
In fact, after adjusting for age, gender, race and alcohol use, the report found that stoned drivers were no more likely to crash than drivers who were not intoxicated at all.
2
@Susanne Braham
And so do you see untold accidents now since people have been consuming cannabis illegally for decades in NYC?
1
@Susanne Braham
And so do you see untold accidents now since people have been consuming cannabis illegally for decades in NYC?
1
Just get the bill written Albany/Cuomo. Include reparations meaning those filling our prisons for possession be released and expunge records and allow localities to give licenses out to minorities who have been disproportionately affected by the criminal justice system. Washington and Colorado legalized years ago and are collecting millions in tax revenue each year. Plus the savings made by not incarcerating the citizenry by a substance that has always been used by humans and only criminalized in the last century along with prohibition of alcohol which also did not work. Just get it done! It is regressive, stupid and racist not to. The Western states have voter initiative where voters get petitions together to chose what bills get voted on, we have Cuomo, time to call his office and our state legislators and make our demands heard. Millions of dollars will be lost and lives affected if not.
1
Better fifty years late than never. How mysterious that public opinion, science and repeated votes don't seem able to change our drug prohibition laws. Could it be the enormous profits they render organized criminals? The truth is, in our corrupt society, the politicians, like the NYPD, are nickels and dimes in the pockets of the big drug dealers. Whenever they do legalize it (after the last Narc dies?) you can bet that the price will be set well above whatever you're paying your dealer . . . . Or somebody wakes up with a horse head.
4
I don’t get the whole “community reinvestment” concept, the rationale for which I read about in earlier NYT articles and goes like this:
Blacks in poor communities were early and ongoing adopters and sellers of marijuana and thus were more likely (even taking into account police bias) to be busted and incarcerated than whites.
However, those convicted of trafficking in marijuana, mostly blacks, gained lots of practical, day-to-day experience in entrepreneurship and in selling marijuana. Therefore these convicted criminals, whatever their education levels and legitimate business experience, should automatically be considered qualified to get a substantial proportion of licenses to sell marijuana when it is legalized.
Unfortunately, since these folks operated illegitimate enterprises and learned little or nothing about such niceties as following corporate regulations and paying income tax, it seems highly unlikely they will be able succeed if awarded one of those elusive licenses to grow/market/sell marijuana legitimately.
Am I the only one who thinks this idea is over the top?
5
I always find it amusing that the proponents for the legalization of marihuana are so desperately passionate in their attacks against those that warn against its negative side effects. Some of the attacks are really funny. A few days ago a senior citizen yelled at me and told me that marihuana is not a drug, it is a plant. Then a very young person told me it is an herb. It's actually very sad, that our current society wants to be misled, misinformed, and ignorant. I guess since Hollywood movies and other previous forms of escape from reality are not effective anymore in their lack of quality to present a way to dream of a better society, most people that cannot deal with reality need an "herb" or a "plant" to escape into altered states of mind regardless of the consequences. Ignorance is bliss, and lower IQs, one of the negative side effects of marihuana, is bliss as well. It's easy not to be intelligent.
Science and widespread experience have shown marijuana is less "addictive" than coffee and far less harmful than alcohol. Polls show 68 percent of all Americans want to end the monstrously destructive, insane war on marijuana consumers. - 75 percent say leave it up to the states. More than 90 percent approve of medical marijuana. Now, even a majority of Republicans want to end this sick, witch hunt. - So why do we still have it?
Because police and prosecutors build their careers and empires on the fraudulent marijuana prohibition. Because industries like alcohol and pharmaceuticals don't want the competition. Because other interests like the bogus "treatment" quacks, the drug testing industry and the prison industries depend on it for their life's blood. Because many banks and shaky corporations couldn't exist without the laundered money. Because the millionaire drug gangs invest their money in 'legitimate' businesses.
Thank goodness, polls show 65 percent of all Americans want to re-legalize marijuana. It's clear we are ending the fraudulent marijuana prohibition, just as we ended the misguided alcohol prohibition.
4
I wish I better understood the backroom politics in Jersey that seem to be stymying this. Reading this story through the years on here I get the sense that Steve Sweeney is petty political character greatly responsible for this legislature not coming to pass because he wants to block Murphy from political wins. Is there more to it than that?
1
According to this article, states with legalization "have run into problems" - the actual news, the truly relevant piece of data here, is the fact that something like 36% of the US population lives where recreational marijuana is state-legal, and the sky most decidedly has not fallen. Despite the hyperbolic warnings of prohibitionists, actually life on the ground in CO,WA,OR,AK,NV,CA etc hasn't actually changed a whole lot. The "problems" have been minor at most.
States after Colorado did learn some valuable lessons about potency regs and labeling for edibles, as well as consumer education, and guess what? Those ER visits (which, in the case of cannabis, generally result in the patient just being told to relax and not worry, give it time, you're going to be fine) declined. California had a very established cannabis grey market so of course the transition to fully legal will take time.
But here's the real question to the hand-wringers; if legalization is such a disaster, why does not a single one of the legal states want to go back? They don't because people there know it's working- and far better than prohibition.
7
I wonder if Cuomo has been to the dispensary in Great Barrington. He would see long lines of people waiting to drop 200 bucks or so - every single day, and he would see plenty of NY license plates in the parking lot. We should be keeping this money in NY and using it to fund infrastructure projects - like fixing the NYC subway system. Another biggie that we don't hear about enough is the NYS canal system, which costs 50 times more to run than it takes in as revenue. Aging, crumbling dams and other water impounding structures that will eventually fail and kill people. Geez- with all the excess wind and hydropower capacity we have upstate, why are we not using it for growing marijuana and water from the canal for irrigation?
3
Once again, if you want to get something done, give it to the people to decide in a referendum.
It seems like politicians don't have the guts to get the job done. That's a shame because the legislative process, used correctly and well thought out, could assure that a quality measure is adopted and that pitfalls experienced in other states are avoided.
3
I must say since certified to take medical cannabis in Ct.
The pharmaceutical strength is much more controlled.
And it is powerful stuff.
Not street shake. And the pharmacy cleans up the street names too. So Vin diesel becomes Vindase. More drugstore sounding name.
And I would agree with PTA moms and pediatricians and small communities..... this cannabis will adversely affect children and young people with developing brain plasticity so they are more stoner than student.
Humans have always searched out psychotropics to imbibe.
Governments have criminalized behavior in their poorest segments but allowed the rich to imbibe and produce cannabis unrestricted.
IMHO I would rather my teen try cannabis and stay away from alcohol. If the child insisted on social experimentation.
My grown kids said “ no mom , we don’t do drugs or drink “. When they were teens and in college. Of course they lied. So parents are challenged in America to be present for their kids in this crazy debate about a plant.
Vermont is the only state getting it right. Profit margins are not a priority there.
Pragmatism worked in Vermont.
Ct. MMP is well structured. Most of the folks I see coming and going are my age group. 50’s to 80’s. Most have canes and coke bottle glasses. Walk with difficulty. Some are on chemo with no hair and weak looking. There are no jokes or laughing. And staff is great. No judgement. Just very helpful.
So for the populations young and old that use cannabis I wish them relief.
2
It would be interesting to know how many of those that are beating the nonsensical “public safety” drum overindulge in alcohol on a regular basis. My bet is quite a few, if not most. Hypocrisy at its best!
56
@Ajvan1 Beer and wine with prescription pharmaceuticals on the side. The double standard is ridiculous.
17
.@Ajvan1not me. Im totally against all that stuff. I can actually be happy and relaxed without it
2
@Ajvan1 Yes, people overindulge on alcohol and die earlier from alcohol-related diseases (e.g., cancers of all types, cirrhosis, heart disease, etc), as their care depletes much needed health resources. Why not add something to the mix that will cause respiratory problems, cancers related to smoking, increased er visits, and possibly messed up minds of adolescents or young adults whose brains may not have fully developed. Hypocrisy is the least of offenses concerned here.
3
I don't know what my town's official response has been, but I have to think that our highly paid, richly pensioned, and under-worked police department (and their union) is lobbying to keep pot illegal. The 'easy' arrests of people passing through on the main highway for pot, usually most of the items in the local paper's 'police blotter,' help them to look busy and justify more officers.
38
With the current increase in research -- not looking good. I'm for decriminalization not legalization.
The research is showing what we all saw when young -- some are affected and never the same. I knew a few .... pot is much stronger today. If as an adult you want to use ,,, fine ... but let's not act as if the ingredients in pot are not serious drugs capable of making life long changes when used by developing brains
17
@GT A serious drug? Well, not that I ever saw. The most damaging drug I know is legal, and that's alcohol.
We smoked up in college, then went on to be productive professionals.
Let's stop the fear-mongering and behave as adults.
24
@GT More Reefer Madness concern-trolling. It's been legal here in Oregon for four years, and the only "life long changes" appear to be less alcohol consumption and a lower body mass index.
24
@Laguiole
Yeah, right. That's the latest ridiculous statement about weed: it makes you lose weight. Hahaha!
5
Just staggering incompetence. It’s got widespread support, is tested and working all over the place now and is a fresh revenue stream.
How is the American left ever going to accomplish anything actually revolutionary if it can’t even get this done in places like NY and NJ?
37
@HH
I've never quite gotten the supposed connection between cannabis legalization and Left political ideology that's so widely assumed. Some of the most extreme and punitive campaigns of drug prohibition in history have been carried out by left-wing regimes.
Regarding drug use as a personal freedom issue is a libertarian stance, if anything- but I view libertarianism as a philosophical inclination, not a political one. Libertarianism elevated to the level of a dogmatic political paradigm is a travesty. As a philosophical inclination, I find it considerably preferable to the other extreme, punitive moralism.
The need for a rational balance has to be understood, of course; only the most insanely dogmatic libertarian would insist on their right to market, say, fentanyl. But since cannabis is less harmful than alcohol by any rational measure, it's rational that it should be at least as legal.
2
Regardless of the various options on how to go forward both states should agree now on one thing. Arrests for personal use of small amounts of marijuana must stop.
This change has to happen in Albany because what we have seen in New York is that as long as the criminal possession laws are on the books police will continue to make arrests.
And as has always been the case, a disproportionate number of those arrested will be Black and brown. Legalization can wait, but simple justice cannot.
83
Put it to a vote of the people, as in Colorado, California, Washington, etc. There is overwhelming support. Politicians are too political.
42
@David And, already we see how well those states have made out with pot legalization. Not.
The last thing we need is another legal method of artificially manipulating our moods to become psychologically dependent on. Tobacco and alcohol are bad enough.
And if we learned anything from ooze and smokes it’s, once a profitable, addictive, dangerous (read about pot induced psychosis) is legalized we don’t have the kind of legislation that can ever put the genie back in the bottle.
Kids smoke pot. 13-18 year olds. Today’s pot is 20 times more powerful than the pot of the 60s and 70s. It’s bad for a young kid to spend his youth escaping from reality.
2
@KevinX
I’ll assume from your argument of artificially manipulating mood that you’re also for the removal of the wide number of Anti-Psychotics, Anti-Depressants, Stimulants, Anxiolytics, Depressants, and Mood Stabilizers; all of which are lab-developed, some highly addictive, and yet prescribed on a daily basis.
No? Well then perhaps you can explain the dissonance of how these medications are to to be considered any less *artificial* than a plant that contains a naturally occurring compound that the human (and other species!) brains have specifically-tailored receptors for.
And we’ll just quietly ignore the brilliantly red herring about teenagers - at no point has it been suggested that legalization would apply to those under 18. Kids indeed smoke pot. They will most certainly continue to do so regardless of legality for adults.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230721/
3
@XniveK. Evolutionary quibble: I think marijuana has evolved to fit the receptor in “human (and other species) brains “ rather than our brains being tailored. The recent increase in potency is one example. I can’t imagine what purpose this receptor originally played, but the plants have exploited it to become very successful.
Affirmative Action in some areas like a Police Force Or Firemen might be needed nowadays in some instances. But is not needed in the Pot growing industry. There's plenty of entrepreneurs of all races including African Americans ( Snoop Dog for one ) that can get in. All you need is green money. I have to wonder what the real motivation is behind people like Councilman Ronald Rice of Newark who oppose legalization. Who does think is harmed most by keeping pot illegal?
5
A Vermont-like legalization would not be so bad. Just let people grow a small amount in their homes and leave it at that. That's all I've ever wanted anyway - the freedom to grow it myself.
8
@Steven we are only going through the process because giant corporations want to control another habit forming substance.
We learned nothing from tobacco and alcohol. Nothing.
2
@KevinX
Correct me if I am wrong, but alcohol was universally legal till the prohibition, which gave rise to crime syndicates. Their ilk has decimated Central America because government cannot control the appetites of its citizens. Which brings us back to legalization. Outlawing substances do not work. Regulation might have a shot.
1
Grow food, not dope.
Vertical Farming, Hydroponics, and Aquaculture using LED lighting as a growth stimulant and pathogen protection mechanism can feed many local people, put many local people to work, provide a sustainable industry that is climate change proof, and produce a tax base for states.
Dole is for dopes.
Food is for consumption.
4
@Told you so
Guess what, famers can grow/rotate multiple crops. Marajuana gives farmers the opportunity to support growing food that they sell at very low profit margins.
In fact if states were smart, legalization would require that growers not just be tech hipsters who bought a farm and only grow weed, but would give licenses only to those who grow food and have financial need. Of course that's not why NY and NJ are not going legal, it's because the politicians have not figured out how to enrich themselves off a weed that grows almost anywhere.
5
Sweeney is a republican in democrat clothing. He was totally in bed with Chris Christy and on most issues he votes more like a republican than democrat. He undermines the democratic governor at every turn. NJ should immediately decriminalize simple weed possession. The legalization question should be put on the ballot. No way these yo-yos in Trenton will ever get a decent bill passed. The one they dropped was a joke: homegrown would be illegal, guaranteed business advantages to minorities (give me a break), and expungements for convictions for up to 5 pounds of weed ?!? - ridiculous. Just give it to the voters.
10
In NY, the hubris of the black caucus of legislators is breathtaking....
10
Sheer stupidity, and it's been going on for 50 years. Is this actually something we need to spend more time on? Let's get the revenue, much needed, and move on. Other states have legalized weed; are they having problems? If so, I haven't heard of it.
5
@Lacey Sheridan Yes there are problems. Just because this should be done doesn't mean there won't be adverse consequences.
2
How many more people do you need to put in jail, New York?
11
@Marshall nobody goes to jail for just smoking. That’s another pot myth.
Meanwhile, picking up a bit of legal recreational cannabis on the way home from work is commonplace in ten other states.
8
Fools. So typical of government. If anyone actually went and visited the recreational dispensaries in Massachusetts, and considered the revenue it is bringing in, it is a no brainer.
13
So the money continues to go to the Al Capone's instead of tax revenue. The prisons continue to get overpopulated,and lives are still being ruined by The Law and its enforcers.
14
Fascinating how something was, for decades, relentlessly described as the scourge of society, the root of all crime, a gateway drug leading to the total ruination of the young and the break up of the American family... until tax revenue is needed.
Those decades of fear-mongering have proven difficult to overcome. Just look how the Cold War idiocy about eeeeeevil Russia still clings.
As a Rabbi once noted: What little children learn, they never forget.
Be careful of the stories we tell. They stick around.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
4
The only reason something didn't happen in Jersey is because someone didn't pay a big enough bribe. Fuggedaboudit.
11
this is so simple.
10% sales tax, with medical patients being exempt from the tax (like Massachusetts but half the tax).
different purchasing limits for recreational versus medical, like massachusetts.
allowing medical and recreational to be sold alongside one another by the same dispensary (again, like massachussets).
limit the amount of licenses to some sort of fair percentage of each county to foster healthy competition and prevent monopolization (and also a glut of product making prices too low), unlike NY's medical program (monopolistic) and washington's recreational (too many businesses driving prices too low which leads to monopoly as businesses can only compete at scale).
put people with non violent marijuana related convictions to the front of the line for business licenses (boom, there's bridging the inequality divide without riling up racial tensions).
make the cost of applying for a business license fair for average people, UNLIKE NY's medical program that required millions of dollars in the bank to apply for. completely insane.
legalize grow your own for the entire state with a fair limit - 6 in vermont where most of us grow outdoors is not enough to supply for a year.
point tax revenue to maintaining quality standards regarding potency and testing for impurities/chemicals/fertilizers/hormones/etc. anything post that can be used to fix budget holes, or perhaps more properly, pot holes in the road!
legalize private consumption venues. "cafes".
3
@Ashley
NO!!!
10% is still way too high.
NO limits for purchases. (remember: tax & regualate like alcohol!!!! no limits there)
NO limits for personal growing. Six per person is cool, but if even one of those is a male, and assuming the others will make it to harvest (not get stolen, downed by wind, eaten by bugs or critters, succumb to mold/rot) then yea, it may not be "enough."
2
@Ashleyno employer wants to hire anyone who smokes pot. Period.If it shows up in the blood test, youre toast.
2
@Tara
Tara, I assure you, quite a number of employers use pot themselves.
And while this may dismay you, but the forces of totalitarian control have yet to achieve the success at subjecting everyone to random searches of their bodily fluids under penalty of leaving them terminally unemployable. Although, granted, they've had some partial, intermittent success in that dubious effort.
3
Follow the money: Who benefits from continued illegalization and why are police siding with them?
14
@SFO Roberto
Police see themselves as "The Authority" not "law enforcement." Rescinding prohibition means something they have (sort of) the authority control will be taken away from them, and they will fight incessantly to keep that from happening.
12
@SFO Roberto. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut. Police are business people and their business is arresting citizens. If arrests are down, business is down. Their opinions regarding legalization should in no way be considered.
9
Science and widespread experience have shown marijuana is less "addictive" than coffee and FAR less harmful than alcohol. Polls show 68 percent of all Americans want to end the monstrously destructive, insane war on marijuana consumers. - 75 percent say leave it up to the states. More than 90 percent approve of medical marijuana. Now, even a majority of Republicans want to end this sick, witch hunt. - So why do we still have it?
Because police and prosecutors build their careers and empires on the fraudulent marijuana prohibition. Because industries like alcohol and pharmaceuticals don't want the competition. Because other interests like the bogus "treatment" quacks, the drug testing industry and the prison industries depend on it for their life's blood. Because many banks and shaky corporations couldn't exist without the laundered money. Because the millionaire drug gangs invest their money in "legitimate' businesses.
Corruption is this country's biggest problem. - The only leaders who are honest and actually represent the people are the Progressives, like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
Here's hoping the people wake up before the next election.
16
@John Thomas
I'll add a "because."
I received a flier in the mail for registration for a professional development course entitled "The Opiate & Marijuana Crisis" addressed to my (10 years deceased) mother, who was an RN.
There is still a major segment of the medical profession pushing nonsense. There's no reason why cannabis should have been a part of any "opioid crisis" conference. But medical professionals want it that way.
12
@John Thomas its bad stuff, especially if youre poor and uneducated. Why cant people be happy without it?
1
@Tara Who says they can't? Why can't people be happy WITH it? Are you against happiness? I'm happy without it and I'm also happy with it? I get joy and happiness from multiple sources. Not just cannabis. Are you somehow the world's arbiter of who and how people should experience happiness? Is it okay to be "happy" and get "high" from running? how about from reading poetry? Is it okay to be "euphoric" when your child's underdog little league team wins the championship? How about getting high from sugar or wine and beer and whiskey? Do you live in the real world?
1
At least defriminalize it and stop arresting people for posession.
10
@carlgusually they are arrested cause they were doing something stupid at the time...because they were high.
2
The state of New Jersey is number two per capita for marijuana arrests! Surrounded only by Wyoming and South Dakota.
How is it possible that a state so wealthy, educated, and somewhat skewed toward Democrats became this embarrassing?
12
@Tim S.
Probably the same way that it's possible to have the highest property taxes among the lower 48 states.
10
Utah passed a ballot initiative legalizing medicinal cannabis, only to have it replaced by our legislature's bizarre watered down version weeks later.
2
When are you coastal elites going to catch up to us progressive midwesterners?! It's amazing that Michigan has managed to legalize cannabis before NY.
20
@Campbell. You mean East Coast elites. Pot is legal in West Coast States from the Mexican border to Canada.
6
@David Right on. I should have been more specific.
1
@Campbell Last time I checked , Massachusetts is on the East coast.
While NY and NJ politicians grapple with the interests of their benefactors, there are at least three legal marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts that are close to the NY State border.
From northern NJ, the closest one seems to be a three hour drive. Make it a day out. :)
10
@mmmmaris its illegal to leave the state with, not that its legality has stopped anyone.
3
And this is why I will never leave California.
6
Cuomo is relieved, he never intended to legalize marijuana, he only wanted to get reelected. The police, teachers unions, and doctors control the fate of legalization, it doesn't matter what the public want, the police need to arrest more people for pot and ruin their lives and careers, its' what they love to do. This should have been put up of a referendum and voted on instead of allowing minority authoritative figures telling us what we can and can not do. Welcome to police state, the least freest state in the nation.
42
To think- the dysfunctional Republic of Chicago (Illinois) may make this happen before NJ/NY- what a time to be alive! Current negotiated proposal does what New Jersey failed on- allocating 25% to communities disproportionately affected by poverty, the war on drugs and violence- AND 20% will go to mental health/substance abuse treatment.
*Disclaimer: I love my city/state, but we're usually far behind the 1st and 2nd coasts on picking up the more liberal causes.
5
Why legalize marijuana when there still miserable people in the state who are not yet addicted to opioids? That's where the real money is for the interests in NYS that matter to Cuomo and the state's reliably crooked legislature. Taxes from pot would have to be distributed democratically, while Big Pharma, Insurance, and law enforcement are deprived of one of their most dependable revenue streams. To do nothing is to play right into their hands.
8
Meanwhile, here in Southwestern MA we have a fully operational pot shoppe (and a second one under construction). It's a stone's throw from both the NY and CT borders.
It's a sight to behold; there are lines of people outside the shop stretching for blocks at times, seven days a week. Even the cops are there; not busting people but directing traffic.
And these diehard folks are not to be deterred, I've seen them out there in pouring rain, snow and howling winds.
Almost all the license plates are NY and CT.
All that tax revenue staying here in MA while the lawmakers in our neighboring states examine their navels.
Life is good.
55
@Tim
Well said, well said. In California at least the injustice is over, the black market is thriving, the taxes are idiotically high, and no towns on the SF peninsula south of the City have dispensaries. City fathers are idiots, my town has a firearms store, tons of liquor stores but no place sells pot.
I went into a shop in Oakland just after legalization, I don’t really use pot, I just wanted to buy it legally, busts ruined the lives of friends in the ‘70s. I had to let them take a picture of my drivers license just to get in. The tax was ridiculous, an eighth was nearly $100, I won’t go back. Ever. Edibles look interesting, but not with all the bother required.
4
@Tim
Shouldn't that be Ye Olde Potte Shoppe, est. 2018?
1
@Garrett Clay
Would have turned around and walked if they tried to take a picture of my license. The hypocrisy is ridiculous. I can go down the street and buy all the liquor/beer/wine that my wallet can handle, and if not, go 1/4 mile down the street to get more. And more if I like. There's no limit there, I can stash every cubic foot of my house full of alcohol BUT, in my state (MA) I can only have 10oz of cannabis on the premises. I'll ask anyone what's more dangerous and if anyone dare answers that cannabis is, they are either deliberately provocative or profoundly uneducated.
3
Bogus Excuses/"Harms" From the article:
>>>"Emergency room visits rose in Colorado,"
Novice consumers sometimes take too much, feel ill, get scared and go to the hospital, but they are never in any danger. NO ONE has ever died from consuming marijuana in all of recorded history.
The "treatment" they get when they go to the hospital is a couple of hours rest with, perhaps, a mild sedative for the scare. Then, they are good to go - every time.
This rarely happens with experienced consumers. If it does, they know they will do better just lying down at home for a while.
>>>"the black market continued to thrive in California"
Only because of the still, fraudulent "illegal" states that much of California's marijuana goes to. - Most Californians are happy to buy from the legal stores.
>>>"and every state saw vast racial disparities in marijuana business ownership. "
This is simply a bogus, power/money grab. - It's the height of absurdity to expect marijuana reform to solve racial inequity in the U.S. -- Marijuana reform has MORE than enough on it's plate, than to shoulder a massive U.S. problem that no other group has accomplished yet in hundreds of years.
As long as consumers are being persecuted by the corrupt government, IT DOESN'T MATTER who sells marijuana. That's a distraction that greedy groups try to insert into the issue.
It is only massive corruption that is propping up the crumbling, fraudulently enacted, marijuana prohibition.
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Another victory for big Pharma (of which New Jersey is home to 14 of the 20 biggest pharmaceutical companies) and for the racist criminal justice system that our country has been propagating for the last 200 years. And a word about the hypocrisy of the PTA--I can tell you firsthand that my "guy" sells to so many PTA members in our town. SMH.
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Go Ned go! (CT Gov Lamont)
While NY and NJ duke it out you can sneak us through!
Carpe diem!!!!
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Massachusetts growers and sellers rejoice. It's going to be a great tourist season in the Berkshires again.
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I have heard that the medical cannabis program in New York is the worst in the country. The quality of what they offer is extremely low and the prices are the highest in the country.
Just as well they are slowing the process down. They should go to Pennsylvannia and learn how to do it correctly. Pennsylvannia, by contrast, has one of the best medicinal cannabis programs in the country and it is privatized.
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@Truth Is True correct- they sell distillate oil in “vaporizer pens” and call it medicine despite being toxic and damaging lung tissues.
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Absolutely antiquated in every way. Keeping pot illegal means nothing, btw. I can still buy premium quality for dirt cheap, and it's readily available. It never mattered in the city while I was growing up, only when Guiliani took over. Now that he's gone who cares, really? Anyways, still another continuously terrible decision from our elected officials. It's a lucrative business, it doesn't matter how many people sell the stuff, it's in high demand... definitely wouldn't want to invest in a business like that, right? I'll never understand the logic....
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And hilariously, cannabis is now defacto legalized in red red red Oklahoma. We call it medical marijuana but prescriptions are uber easy to get and dispensaries are popping up overnight. Cannabis sales have gone up month after month. Opponents before our vote said we'd have the most liberal medical marijuana laws in the nation. And they were right.
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If we can manage it, we’ll hook you up in Vermont. Sorry about your money paying our taxes, but, hey...
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@John Gallagher
not yet, we can only hook you up if we know you as no "legal" sales just yet... but with our home grown laws well be having some of the best quality organic around.
It won't be an easy fight, but worth it. Unless you enjoy paying for the cost of incarcerating and therefore pretty much ruining the lives of people caught smoking an herb that has been around for a very, very long time.
The midnight madness hoax will hopefully be put to an end soon, and hopefully people will be responsible and considerate of others while exercising their new freedom. Most people here are, although you can find an idiot just about anywhere and in any group.
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Maybe I’m just high, but it seems to me that until, and unless, the criminal status of Cannabis is addressed at the federal level, then it’s probably not helping “the cause” to be opportunistically clawing at the hypothetical promise of legalized, recreational use.
Greed has a very distinct odour to it. Any attempts to introduce recreational cannabis use which don’t first address potential medicinal applications, and widespread prison reform, are simply the machinations of myopic, capitalist pigs.
3
This is what happens when the racial justice folks get their hooks into an issue.
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@James
What is that supposed to mean?
I applaud some lawmakers for holding out on justice for the disproportionately brown and black population imprisoned because of these ridiculous drug laws.
White people can wait a minute longer for legalization if it means justice for everyone else.
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@Albert
It means that expunging records and quotas for licences was too much to stomach for some lawmakers. Enough to scuttle the deal.
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It is a God-given plant. There exists an inalienable natural right. Welcome a broad sense of Liberty and Justice for All.
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The “reefer madness”-style histrionics around this need to be ignored so legal weed can be seen for what it actually is to NJ: a desperately-needed, past-due scalable source of tax revenue. NJ, the most densely populated state, has horrendous taxes, awful roads, horrific public transit to NY and suffering schools. With no other remedies in sight save taxing thousands more out of state (and losing tax base), we ought to have passed this two years ago. As others have pointed out, you smell it on the streets in every town at one point or another anyway. Could big pharma’s contributions to our politicians be playing a part in this costly foot-dragging?
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Medical quality is a must and should be available safely to those who need relief from numerous difficulties. Maybe a good science writing on the good medical uses is most to educated the public. Arresting people for personal use is not ok since so many people drive drunk and do much harm to innocent others.
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As usual, it is all about money..some hoping to grab a bigger slice and some trying to hold on to their Pharmaceutical monopoly which is in danger of going bye bye.
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It’s always the same people fighting the inevitable. Of course law enforcement wants marijuana to stay illegal. How else can they justify jailing millions of people for it? And how come these parent associations aren’t as concerned with alcohol which is far worse than marijuana but it’s legal? It’s all just political games.
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Effectively, the way I read this story is that Bernie Sanders Is the referendum.
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@William -- Yes. On marijuana legalization and so much more. - The corrupt, corporate Democrats that now dominate the party are just Republicans in Democrat clothing. - The only leaders who are honest and actually represent the people are Progressives, like Bernie Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.
1
Keep it illegal- where else would CA overproduced weed surplus go for such insane prices other than NYC!
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Steve Sweeney is the perfect example of what happens when we all stop paying attention to state politics.
Who is he? I dunno, but someone must have elected him.
How did he get to be senate president if no one in the entire statehouse seems to respect him? Beats the heck out of me.
How does he get to keep his job when the only time we ever hear about him is when he’s associated with some kind of massive failure of leadership? Maybe his constituents —whoever they are, I couldn’t even guess without making a google search— find his bumbling nature and more than slight resemblance to Ralph Wiggum from “The Simpsons” endearing.
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You need look no further than a man named George Norcross to understand why Steve Sweeney stays in power.
Plus voters are mostly idiots.
New York need only look to their friends and rivals here in Massachusetts where over 30 months after marijuana was legalized in the commonwealth, there are no recreational marijuana dispensaries in the city of Boston; 1 in the second largest city, Worcester, and zero in the 3rd largest city, Springfield.
The ballot referendum was passed by a 52-48 margin, and after a campaign by nearly every local and state leader, mostly Democrats, we were told that the will of the voters would be respected. It wasn't.
The state legislature soon after convened a committee to negotiate a new bill, one that would wipe the text of the referendum and replace it, with guidelines crafted by representatives who did not support that purpose of the legislation they were writing.
Fast forward and there is a 5-seat commission tasked with reviewing and approving every application for a license to commence operations, the final step of a convoluted process that requires exorbitant contracts with the host municipality of each prospective business. These agreements need community approval, and were seemingly designed to empower the revolving door of lobbyists who lubricate all levels of state bureaucracy with their entrenched Democratic Party connections.
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@Matt C
I've always held that legalization of household cultivation of small amounts for personal use and gifting to adults, similar to legal home brewing of limited quantities of beer and wine for non-commercial purposes, should be the first priority of the cannabis legalization movement. Along with legalization of possession of small quantities, of course. That's a much simpler provision to legislate than a commercial market.
Commercial markets complicate the question enormously, compared to an assent to legal household cultivation. That's just how it is. Suddenly it's all about zoning, local ordinances, inspections, bank records, taxation, regulation of quality and purity at the source, and regulations like age and quantity restrictions at the point of sale. Elements in the Massachusetts government are almost certainly dragging their feet in an effort to stall the implementation of legalization, and perhaps to even reverse it. But it's the part of the legalization effort that includes the provision for commercial sales that has granted them the opportunity/excuse to do that.
Unlike the criminalization of non-commercial possession and cultivation of an environmentally benign annual plant- which I view as an unconscionable and illegitimate attack on personal freedom- I think that governments do have a duty to regulate commerce. Commercial legalization of a product like this, well, welcome to the regulatory briar patch, and the lawyers and lobbyists who inhabit it...
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@DC Reade
thats what we did in vermont and its great :)
1
Cannabis still illegal - stupid, arbitrary and unfair.
Why are lawmakers such idiots?
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@Sam Kanter It is ALL about money!
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its all about who gets the money. the black market will the thrive for year's to come.
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@Sam Kanter
You forgot to mention the pharmaceutical companies. They are so stupid and powerless they have not taken advantage of the wonder harmless drug marihuana is. They could've made a lot of money all these years marketing it legally. I wonder why? Maybe they don't want to get sued for damages?
Who cares, people are already acting like it’s legal here in NYC. Not a day goes by that we don’t smell it in the streets. Even on tony Park Avenue, that son of the parents who are part of the college cheating scandal spoke to the media outside his fancy building while smoking a joint, and everyone shrugged.
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@Tgs
As long as criminalization is on the books, any enforcement policy can be reversed almost instantly by a single election- or, for that matter, a single memo.
Also, a relaxed attitude toward use- and even official decriminalization of possession of small amounts for personal use- does nothing to address the illegal market in cannabis. The worst impact of cannabis is its illicit status, which has led to a lucrative illegal market.
Illegal markets are socially unhealthy. The retail end is very often staffed by teenagers. The attractions of fast money from selling illegal drugs- and pot is the most popular illegal substance- get a lot of kids into a life of crime before their 16th birthday. No one should dismiss that reality with a hand-wave just because the cops currently aren't making much of a priority of busting weed smokers for lighting up in public.
5
So Cuomo's lurch to the left on one solitary issue in the face of a primary challenger came to nothing months after his election. Because it's complicated.
Let this be a lesson to everyone who has cultivated a lifetime habit of voting for a guy in a suit with a recognizable name with a D next to it, and whose accomplishments in the name of your ideology/priorities are such you would have to hit Google to name any of them.
Establishment dems have built their careers on accomplishing nothing but paying lip service to constituents when it's reelection time. I know change is scary but can it be much worse than this perpetual stasis we find ourselves in?
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@DataCrusader. Well said, thank you. The corporate DNC is w-a-y out of touch with the Democrats they are supposed to represent...but they don't. They have not for some time and look at the results we must live with. Joe Biden is clearly not the candidate for these times. How hard can it be to get legal cannabis organized and up & running in NY & NJ? Not that hard, the people want it happen. I miss my life in NYC a lot and always will but I must say that living in CA a 420 Green State is a plus. It is a better way and business is booming on the entire West Coast and Colorado as some outstanding examples. NY is behind the curve and not leading. This could be good business for NY farmers/growers.
2
Carefully regulated medical marijuana is one thing, recreational marijuana is another. This would be a great opportunity for organized crime to get its grubby paws into it.
Minority need a good dose of clear thinking and a work ethic, not one of cheap, legal marijuana.
5
@J.Jones Would be?! Stop and smell the pot smoke, @J.Jones -- all sorts of crime, organized, disorganized and everything in between, already has its grubby paws in it, TODAY, and ZERO DOLLARS of those sales are being taxed! Recreational can be carefully regulated and taxed, too!
Still, baby steps: first let's totally decriminalize it, expunge minor convictions, and greatly expand medical; see how all that goes for a year, and only then learn from that year and proceed to carefully regulate and tax recreational -- either through legislation, of if that's too difficult to pass, then through ballot initiative.
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@J.Jones: So instead of cheap, legal marijuana you support the status quo - expensive, illegal marijuana. Chalk one up for drug dealers and international cartels. Prohibitionists have a little difficulty following the money it seems.
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@J.Jones
Are you serious? The market front of the Drug War on marijuana has been almost entirely about decades on end of steady encroachment by organized crime networks "getting their grubby paws on it." Illicit markets empower criminals attracted by the price supports ensured by illegality. Professor Alfred McCoy (who once had a price put on his head, when researching the heroin trade in Southeast Asia for his PhD) refers to this as "the stimulus of Prohibition." https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313756886_The_Stimulus_of_Prohibition_A_Critical_History_of_the_Global_Narcotics_Trade_in_'Dangerous_Harvest_Drug_Plants_and_the_Transformation_of_Indigenous_Landscapes'_2004_pp_24-111
At the very least, the legislatures in New York and New Jersey could legalize the household cultivation of 5-10 cannabis plants for the purposes of personal use and gifting to adults, similar to legal home brewing of beer and wine. No market squabbling required for that. And acknowledging the right of legal home cultivation will help to undercut the illicit market and the organized crime networks currently reaping the profits in those states.
6
For all those standing in the way of legalization, let's keep in mind what you are really standing for here.
First, they support continuation of prohibition, a trainwreck of a policy that has actually aided the cartels in building distribution networks for actually dangerous drugs.
Of course, these ardent prohibition deadenders will insist that they are opposed to drugs. Perhaps that's the intent, although many may be starting to suspect such rhetoric is simply cover for some sort of payoff to keep the black market in business. What really counts is not what they say, but what the policy they support does.
That leads to the second issue, which is that a vote for more prohibition, which a No vote on legalization is indisputably, is a vote for the black market.
So they may claim that their opposition to legalization is a "tough on crime" position, in actuality they are voting in support of giving aid and comfort to the cartels. The cartels have the same position now as the prohibitionists, keep it illegal.
Still, just to be sure that these supposed public servants aren't on the cartel paybook, it couldn't hurt to have them investigated for any Swiss bank accounts, etc.
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