Cuomo’s new proposal calls for the creation of an Office of Cannabis Management, which would oversee licensing details and ensure the money goes to communities and people most impacted by the war on drugs. The plan would also require a certain number of dispensary licenses be given to social equity applicants, defined as those who’ve come from an area with high marijuana arrests, poverty rates and unemployment.
It’s an improvement over what Cuomo has supported in the past because it sequesters the money for social equity purposes, as opposed to leaving it in a general fund that could be re-directed for other uses, said Natalie Papillion, director of strategic initiatives for The Last Prisoner Project, a criminal justice reform group.
The cannabis industry—including companies that already have medical licenses in New York, like Columbia Care Inc., Cresco Labs Inc., Curaleaf Holdings Inc. and Green Thumb Industries Inc.—broadly support the idea that they have a role in fixing the racial and social disparities exacerbated by the war on drugs.
In fact, it’s become one of the cannabis industry’s best arguments to decriminalize marijuana—a broad stroke they say would help end a source of racial inequality in the U.S. Companies will clearly benefit from having their product legalized, regardless of what the government does with the taxes it collects.
Racial Divide
Critics of Cuomo’s plan say it doesn’t go far enough given the racial inequity around New York’s record of cannabis arrests. “Some people think it should be tied to the arrest rate,” said Moore, of Drug Policy Alliance. “Eighty percent were Black and Latino New Yorkers for decades, despite the fact that people use cannabis at a similar rate across racial groups.”
The disproportionate arrests of minorities has led to long-term social problems in their communities.
In New York City, which has been at the center of Black incarceration for marijuana, seven of the city’s 10 lowest-income neighborhoods were also among the top 10 neighborhoods for marijuana arrests, according to a 2018 report from the city comptroller. Those neighborhoods also had high unemployment rates and low home-ownership rates.
Budget hearings on Cuomo’s proposal begin this month. He will have to face competing legislation which calls for 50% of annual cannabis tax revenue to flow to affected communities, after program costs. The MRTA, which has been re-introduced every year since 2013, would deliver $150 million in revenue starting as soon as marijuana is legalized.
And while the pandemic is sure to create arguments that money is needed elsewhere, it may also end up highlighting the importance of more generous legislation.
“The communities hardest hit by the drug war are also facing the highest Covid deaths and the highest job losses from the pandemic,” Moore said. “It’s because of the same structural factors, the structural racism that these communities have experienced for decades.”
—With assistance from Keshia Clukey.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.