Legalized Recreational Marijuana In NY

[TTL News 308]

Earlier this week, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a proposal to legalize and create a comprehensive system to oversee and regulate cannabis in New York as part of the 2021 State of the State. Under the Governor's proposal, a new Office of Cannabis Management would be created to oversee the new adult-use program, as well as the State's existing medical and cannabinoid hemp programs. Additionally, an equitable structure for the adult-use market will be created by offering licensing opportunities and assistance to entrepreneurs in communities of color who have been disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs. Once fully implemented, legalization is expected to generate more than $300 million in tax revenue. 

"Despite the many challenges New York has faced amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it has also created a number of opportunities to correct longstanding wrongs and build New York back better than ever before," Governor Cuomo said. "Not only will legalizing and regulating the adult-use cannabis market provide the opportunity to generate much-needed revenue, but it also allows us to directly support the individuals and communities that have been most harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition."

The Governor's proposal builds on years of work to understand and decriminalize cannabis for adult use. In 2018, the Department of Health, under Governor Cuomo's direction, conducted a multi-agency study which concluded that the positive impacts of legalizing adult-use cannabis far outweighed the negatives. It also found that decades of cannabis prohibition have failed to achieve public health and safety goals and have led to unjust arrests and convictions particularly in communities of color. 

In 2019, Governor Cuomo signed legislation to decriminalize the penalties for unlawful possession of marijuana. The legislation also put forth a process to expunge records for certain marijuana convictions. Later that year, the Governor spearheaded a multi-state summit to discuss paths towards legalization of adult-use cannabis that would ensure public health and safety and coordinate programs regionally to minimize the cross-border movement of cannabis products.

Building on that important work, the proposal reflects national standards and emerging best practices to promote responsible use, limiting the sale of cannabis products to adults 21 and over and establishing stringent quality and safety controls including strict regulation of the packaging, labeling, advertising, and testing of all cannabis products. Cannabis regulation also offers the opportunity to invest in research and direct resources to communities that have been most impacted by cannabis prohibition.

Take our poll: Do you support the legalization of recreational marijuana?

 

[Chris 2,161]

Legalization is long overdue. 

It's a great revenue source and I'm not completely convinced it's the "gateway drug" so many have believed it to be. Also, it's great for those who have chronic pain but can't get their doctor on board to give them a script to get the medical grade stuff ( which is also insanely expensive last I knew ). 

[KarenK 383]

4 minutes ago, Chris said:

Legalization is long overdue. 

It's a great revenue source and I'm not completely convinced it's the "gateway drug" so many have believed it to be. Also, it's great for those who have chronic pain but can't get their doctor on board to give them a script to get the medical grade stuff ( which is also insanely expensive last I knew ). 

I have to agree with you.  Since I know several "recovering addicts" personally (21 years this week!), their stories have always blamed alcohol much more than marijuana.   People get drunk and make poor choices was what I was told.  He never even cared for or used MJ to begin with.

Edited January 16, 2021 by KarenK

[MsKreed 1,178]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

Also, it's great for those who have chronic pain but can't get their doctor on board to give them a script to get the medical grade stuff ( which is also insanely expensive last I knew ). 

From what I understand, there are very few dispensaries within reasonable driving distance for most upstate rural and low density populations. 

 

Also...It's boggled my mind that the FDA can approve pharmaceutical companies to develop trials, but the DEA still lists it as Schedule 1 narcotic ("no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse"). 

 

Which is yet another reason why I think so many federal bureaucracies are counter-productive and need to be scaled back (or eliminated). The un-elected "expert authorities" in one alphabet agency determines what is or isn't acceptable medical use....while the un-elected authorities some other alphabet agency make a completely opposite determination. Can't win, and we're funding both circus acts. 

[Ann 263]

The problem I see with legalizing marijuana is that, if passed, it will be legal but what happens if you work for an employer that requires you pass a random drug test to remain emloyed?

You smoke before reporting  to work Monday, have an accident at work, under the influence. Your employer can terminate you and potentially you are not eligible for Workman’s Comp.  Also, if smoking cigarettes can lead to lung cancer, what is the difference with marijuana, you are still inhaling smoke into your lungs.  
 

 

[Chris 2,161]

38 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

From what I understand, there are very few dispensaries within reasonable driving distance for most upstate rural and low density populations. 

Closest one I know of is Johnson City.

[Chris 2,161]

15 minutes ago, Ann said:

The problem I see with legalizing marijuana is that, if passed, it will be legal but what happens if you work for an employer that requires you pass a random drug test to remain employed?

Simple, you cannot partake.

[Kevin 334]

Dish Network Corporate office had this issue right after CO. legalized it.  A guy smoked it for pain management and popped positive on a drug test and was terminated.  He fought it but it was determined because the federal government still says it is illegal you can be terminated for using it. 

 

In order for that to not be an issue the federal government would have to legalize it. I know those states that have legalized it have come up with tests to have cops determine if you are under the influence while driving.  

[Ann 263]

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Simple, you cannot partake.

That would require common sense which seems to greatly lacking in today’s society.

[Chris 2,161]

35 minutes ago, Ann said:

That would require common sense which seems to greatly lacking in today’s society.

A lot of people are already using it and unable to pass a drug test, regardless of whether it's legal ( at the state level ) or not. Which is why certain employers have such a hard time keeping their staffing levels up.  

Legalize it, and let the police focus on getting the harder stuff off the streets, the heroin and meth that not only destroys lives, but is destroying entire communities. 

[Mark 12]

It seems to me that the arguments they are using to legalize it and the failures they cited in decades of criminalization would be apply not only state authorized distribution, but also to home production for your own personal consumption.  It would sure be a good way to beat the 18% tax.  Seems like it would be similar to how it works with home winemakers.  It's okay to make & consume your own wine, as long as you don't go into the sales or distribution business.

[Mark 12]

Another point:  If cuomo is ready to approve this proposed legislation, you can be absolutely sure that he has figured out how to get the producers to kickback a piece of the action to his election coffers.

[Adam 373]

a more advantageous move would be to legalize Hemp. Commercialize it and it could be a boon to central/southern tier/finger lakes regions. Commercial hemp production could help revitalize economies across the State, and have a positive impact on the Environment.

[MsKreed 1,178]

23 hours ago, Chris said:

Simple, you cannot partake.

I also wondered about DUI laws, ever since the first few states began legalizing it several years ago.  Currently, the drug tests on the market test whether someone has partaken in the last 2-4 weeks. That fact that they would no longer be impaired if it was days or weeks earlier is moot....because it's historically been illegal with or without actual impairment.

I've figured as legalization expands it will create a demand for private enterprise to develop more specific tests to determine "under the influence" closer to real time. Kind of surprising that the same long term option is all that is still available. Until timely (like BAC) technology is developed, it seems that alcohol is still going to be a more legally acceptable drug of choice. 

[Kevin 334]

"A team of researchers from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and the Swanson School of Engineering recently developed a breathalyzer device that measures the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive compound in marijuana, in a user’s breath."

 

https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2019/09/new-breathalyzer-marijuana/

[Chris 2,161]

Those type of things will be good for field sobriety tests involving THC, I'm glad to hear they're making progress on that front. But for those of us who have to do random drug screens, those tests can find it weeks, even months I'm told, after using. Not that I would anyway, I'm sticking to good old fashioned ETOH. 

[KarenK 383]

On 1/16/2021 at 2:23 PM, Ann said:

The problem I see with legalizing marijuana is that, if passed, it will be legal but what happens if you work for an employer that requires you pass a random drug test to remain employed?

 

Really not any different than alcohol.  Alcohol is legal however I can not be under the influence at work or I'll get fired.  

[Zapp Brannigan 137]

Yes the medical is very expensive and until recently has only been tinctures,pills and vaping oils. They have started selling pre ground flower meant for vaping. Ive seen some complaints that some is almost like powder. A00242 below would be great and helpful for medical users.

 

Here’s a summary of what the New York marijuana bills would accomplish: 

A00040: This legislation would require a study on how taxes and banking are managed for the medical cannabis market. A report would have to be submitted by January 16, 2022.

A00127: The bill would made a series of revisions to the state’s medical marijuana program. Its primary purpose is to expand who qualifies as a cannabis caretaker who can possess products on a patient’s behalf, adding “facility caregivers” to the list. That includes workers in hospitals, adult care facilities and mental health institutions.

A00169: Under this proposal, the definition of a “serious condition” that qualifies a patient for medical cannabis would be amended. Rather than list out specific eligible maladies, people could qualify for having any “condition, or symptom or complication of the condition or its treatment, for which, in the practitioner’s professional opinion and review of past treatments, the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from primary or adjunctive treatment with medical use of medical marihuana.”

A00184: This measure would provide for the regulatory “normalizing” of organizations that are permitted to “produce, sell, deliver or distribute” cannabis.

A00242: If enacted, medical marijuana would be considered a “prescription drug” that’s eligible for health insurance coverage.

A00413: The bill would add dysmenorrhea, or pain linked to menstrual cramps, to the list of conditions that qualify patients for medical cannabis.

A00531: This would remove the “serious” designation as a requirement to qualify for medical marijuana. It also increase the amount of cannabis that a patient can purchase at one time from a 30- to 60-day supply. A medical marijuana research program, along with applicable licenses, would be created.

S00183: Patients could not be evicted from residential properties based solely on their certified use of medical cannabis under this proposal.

[Zapp Brannigan 137]

 

[Zapp Brannigan 137]

Some of the final issues were Home grow for medical patients, how they would handle/check for dwi and if the smell of marijuana from a car is enough to justify a search of the vehicle.

[Chris 2,161]

15 minutes ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

... if the smell of marijuana from a car is enough to justify a search of the vehicle.

Would they search a car because the officer smelled alcohol? Seems to me the same laws should apply. 

[Zapp Brannigan 137]

9 minutes ago, Chris said:

Would they search a car because the officer smelled alcohol? Seems to me the same laws should apply. 

Yes I agree with you same laws should apply. They are worried it will still be used as a crutch to pull over minorities. However are they smelling it because it was used in the car or are they smelling it because they have it in the car.  I mean there is a difference in the smell of used and non used. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Zapp Brannigan

[Chris 2,161]

Any rational person should be able to tell the difference between someone who smells like weed because they were smoking it ( same as a cigarette ) and this:

 

[MsKreed 1,178]

6 hours ago, Zapp Brannigan said:

and if the smell of marijuana from a car is enough to justify a search of the vehicle.

Perhaps signs of usage would be enough justification to perform a sobriety test on the driver....but searching the vehicle for what? A substance that is legal to possess?

[Kevin 334]

2 hours ago, MsKreed said:

but searching the vehicle for what? A substance that is legal to possess?

The legality of it us a gray line. Just because NYS says it's legal the federal govt. still says it is illegal. 

 

I am 100% in favor of this. This will allow me to not rely on my meds all the time.

My question is are they going to monitor to see who buys at the dispensery so they can compare it to the pistol permit holders?