Marijuana NY: Is there enough support for legalization?
Jon CampbellALBANY – New York lawmakers are holding out hope that they will be able to garner enough support to legalize recreational marijuana this year, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his doubts.
Supporters of marijuana legalization missed perhaps their best chance for passage earlier this year when the proposal dropped out of budget negotiations before lawmakers and Cuomo approved a $176 billion spending plan April 1.
Now, the sponsors of a bill to legalize the drug say they will soon introduce a new plan that incorporates much of what Cuomo supports, including an overarching Office of Cannabis Management that would oversee both marijuana and hemp products in New York.
Its chances of passage, however, are unclear at best.
So far, marijuana advocates haven't been able to garner enough support in the Legislature to approve legalization.
It's a particularly tough sell in the Senate, where a significant faction of Democrats who control the chamber hail from suburban areas where polls show voters are deeply divided on the issue.
Cuomo is 'a little dubious'
Last week, Cuomo said he feels "a little dubious" that the Legislature will ultimately put the issue to a vote, noting that lawmakers are struggling to marshal enough support.
Time is running thin: Lawmakers are scheduled to end their annual legislative session June 19.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, told reporters Wednesday that her conference hasn't yet discussed the latest iteration of the marijuana proposal, which has not yet been formally introduced.
"The conversations about marijuana ... are ongoing, and like I said, I don’t know that we will have a resolution by the end of session," she said.
Adults in 10 states are allowed to use marijuana legally, though only one — Vermont — approved the change legislatively rather than by a public referendum.
Cuomo pledged his support for marijuana legalization last year after opposing it for much of his first two terms.
He included a plan to regulate and tax the drug in his budget proposal this January, but it wasn't included in the final spending deal.
Advocates of legalization, however, have been urging Cuomo to get more involved and convince individual lawmakers to back the measure.
Cuomo said that's a bad sign.
"They always told me that they had the votes and it was just a more complicated piece of legislation, which it is, by the way," Cuomo said May 10 on WXXI-FM's Connections with Evan Dawson.
"It has to be done right if it's done. But, that's a signal that they don't have the political support and that's a problem."
New bill coming soon
Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, and Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, have led the push to approve marijuana legislatively.
They told reporters this week that they plan to introduce a new bill soon that incorporates many of the marijuana-related agreements they were able to strike with Cuomo during budget talks.
Two major issues remain unresolved, however: how to spend the revenue from a marijuana tax and whether to seal or expunge the records of those previously arrested for possessing the drug.
"I think a lot of it has to do with how are we going to change the conversation, the economy, as well as the prosecution around marijuana," Stewart-Cousins said. "How are we expunging records? How are we giving people an opportunity to be part of what this new booming industry will bring in terms of the economy?"
Opponents of marijuana legalization say a revamped proposal won't be enough to garner their support, with one group — Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM — calling it a "loser for New York's communities."
"New Yorkers want safer roads, greater opportunities for their children and cleaner air," SAM New York CEO said in a statement. "They don't want pot shops on every corner."
JCAMPBELL1@Gannett.com
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