Regulatory
Rollout Stalled
While the Marijuana Recreation and Taxation Act (MRTA)
legalized adult-use marijuana when Governor Cuomo signed the bill into law on
March 31, the process to stand-up the regulatory agencies responsible for
drafting and enacting new industry regulations—the Cannabis Control Board and the Office of Cannabis Management—is
stalled. The New York State Legislature ended its session on June 10 with no
appointments to either entity and the governor and legislative leaders at odds over
who should lead the agencies. Until the agencies are up and running and the
100+ bureaucrats are hired to write the thousands of pages of regulations,
adult-use marijuana grow, distribution, and retail sale are only theoretical.
Can New York still launch a recreational marijuana market by the spring of
2022?
“There’s still time, but that time is running real thin. I mean you really
want to see appointments done by the end of [June],” Kaelan Castetter,
vice-president of the New York Cannabis Growers and Processors Association,
told David Lombardo, host of WCNY’s “The Capitol Pressroom.” Given all the work still to
be done—political appointments, regulation writing, public comment, license
application process—it’s hard to imagine the first adult-use dispensaries
opening before July 2022, possibly later.
Joints for Jabs
Washington State’s Liquor
and Cannabis Board has authorized licensed adult-use marijuana retail shops to
give away a single pre-rolled joint to anyone over 21 who gets a COVID-19 shot
at an on-site vaccine clinic in its Joints for Jabs program.
Towns Exploring MRTA Opt-Out Provisions
Municipalities have until
December 31 to opt out of allowing cannabis retail shops in their cities and
towns. Some local leaders, like Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano, said he’s
against allowing dispensaries and smoking lounges in his city, while Newburgh
Mayor Terrence Harvey supports the opening of cannabis businesses in his city.
“I think people should be responsible and do things with caution of
course,” Harvey told the Times Herald-Record. “Just like alcohol, be
responsible and don’t drive when intoxicated.” Other local leaders, like New
Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers and Kingston Mayor Steve Noble, have also expressed
support for cannabis businesses in their communities. In municipalities that do
pass opt-out laws, residents can petition for a referendum to veto the bans.
Connecticut Legalizes Adult Use
Governor Ned Lamont signed SB
1201—“An Act Concerning the Equitable and Responsible Regulation of
Cannabis”—into law on June 22, ending a multiyear fight to legalize weed in Connecticut.
Starting July 1, adults 21 and over will be allowed to possess up to
one-and-a-half ounces in person and up to five ounces at home. Legal sales are
anticipated to begin by May 2022, which would likely bring Connecticut
dispensaries online before New York’s. Home grow will begin on July 1, 2023. As
in New York, equity applicants are slated to receive 50 percent of the
licenses, and 75 percent of the tax revenue will go toward community
reinvestment and equity efforts.
The War on Drugs, 50 Years Later
On June 15, 1971, Richard Nixon
declared the War on Drugs. Fifty years later, statewide decriminalization and
legalization movements across the country are continuing to gain momentum:
Adult-use marijuana is legal in 19 states; medical marijuana is legal in
36 states. On the federal level, however, weed and many other drugs are still
classified as Schedule 1 drugs. Democrat Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri
and Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey introduced legislation to Congress on
June 15 to decriminalize the personal use of all Schedule 1 drugs like weed,
ecstasy, LSD, and more. Like New York’s MRTA, the Drug Policy Reform Act would also seek to
end the drug war’s negative impact on society through
a variety of social equity reforms.
This article appears in July 2021.
