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New York Moves Toward Legal Marijuana With Health Dept. Endorsement
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Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who opposed marijuana legalization efforts in the past, said recently that “facts have changed” around the drug.CreditKevin Hagen/Getty Images
By Jesse McKinley and Benjamin Mueller
June 18, 2018
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ALBANY — New York moved a significant step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana, as a study commissioned by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will recommend that the state allow adults to consume marijuana legally, the governor’s health commissioner said on Monday.
The announcement by the commissioner, Howard Zucker, signals a broad turnaround for the administration of Mr. Cuomo, a second-term Democrat who said as recently as last year that marijuana was a “gateway drug.”
“We looked at the pros, we looked at the cons, and when we were done, we realized that the pros outweighed the cons,” Dr. Zucker said, adding, “we have new facts.”
The findings of the report, which was initialized in January and has not been finalized, could pave the way for New York to join a roster of states that have already legalized the drug, including California, Colorado and Washington.
A senior administration official with knowledge of the governor’s thinking said on Monday that legalization efforts by New Jersey and Massachusetts had helped shift his thinking early this year. “It was no longer ‘if,’” the person said, “but ‘how.’”
Even with the governor’s support, the path to legalization in New York still faces legislative hurdles, as well as logistical questions. It would require the approval of the State Legislature, which is unlikely to take up the issue in its last days of session, which ends Wednesday.
If it were to be considered, the Republican-led Senate has signaled that it would be less receptive to legalizing marijuana than the Democratic-led Assembly. Still, Senate Democrats — who have expressed measured support of legal marijuana — stand only one seat short of capturing the majority, and the fall elections could leave them in charge.
Either way, the administration’s support of legal marijuana would give Mr. Cuomo a retort to critics of his past opposition as well as to his Democratic primary opponent, the actress Cynthia Nixon, who has already fully embraced the idea of legalization.
The report’s findings show that “New York has passed the point where this is a question,” said Kassandra Frederique, the New York State director at the Drug Policy Alliance.
ents.
New York Moves Toward Legal Marijuana With Health Dept. Endorsement
Image
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who opposed marijuana legalization efforts in the past, said recently that “facts have changed” around the drug.CreditKevin Hagen/Getty Images
By Jesse McKinley and Benjamin Mueller
June 18, 2018
+
ALBANY — New York moved a significant step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana, as a study commissioned by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will recommend that the state allow adults to consume marijuana legally, the governor’s health commissioner said on Monday.
The announcement by the commissioner, Howard Zucker, signals a broad turnaround for the administration of Mr. Cuomo, a second-term Democrat who said as recently as last year that marijuana was a “gateway drug.”
“We looked at the pros, we looked at the cons, and when we were done, we realized that the pros outweighed the cons,” Dr. Zucker said, adding, “we have new facts.”
The findings of the report, which was initialized in January and has not been finalized, could pave the way for New York to join a roster of states that have already legalized the drug, including California, Colorado and Washington.
A senior administration official with knowledge of the governor’s thinking said on Monday that legalization efforts by New Jersey and Massachusetts had helped shift his thinking early this year. “It was no longer ‘if,’” the person said, “but ‘how.’”
Even with the governor’s support, the path to legalization in New York still faces legislative hurdles, as well as logistical questions. It would require the approval of the State Legislature, which is unlikely to take up the issue in its last days of session, which ends Wednesday.
If it were to be considered, the Republican-led Senate has signaled that it would be less receptive to legalizing marijuana than the Democratic-led Assembly. Still, Senate Democrats — who have expressed measured support of legal marijuana — stand only one seat short of capturing the majority, and the fall elections could leave them in charge.
Either way, the administration’s support of legal marijuana would give Mr. Cuomo a retort to critics of his past opposition as well as to his Democratic primary opponent, the actress Cynthia Nixon, who has already fully embraced the idea of legalization.
The report’s findings show that “New York has passed the point where this is a question,” said Kassandra Frederique, the New York State director at the Drug Policy Alliance.
ents.
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