In New York, the process of getting marijuana legalized has uncovered some deep divides in the cannabis movement. Some of the state’s Black lawmakers say that unless racial justice is prioritized, they will withdraw their support of Governor Mario Cuomo’s legalization bill, which has also raised alarm over what some see as its over-reaching influence of medicinal marijuana conglomerates.
An article published by the New York Times on March 11 outlined the concerns of Black elected officials. “They thought we were going to trust that at the end of the day, these communities would be invested in,” commented Crystal Peoples-Stokes, the state’s first Black female Assembly majority leader. “But that’s not something I want to trust. If it’s not required in the statute, then it won’t happen.”
The Governor’s office holds that adding the allowances for correcting the racial disparities of the War on Drugs would be best added in after the passage of the bill. “We have to be careful about how we implement the legislation so we don’t have to change it every few years,” said Cuomo’s counsel Alphonso David to the Times.
That reasoning may not be good enough if the Governor plans on retaining the support of the state’s lawmakers of color for his bill, which he originally pledged to pass within the first 100 days of his current term and encouraged by included in April’s state budget. Some of the politicians involved in the criticism of the bill have been some of legalization’s most passionate activists.
Various proposals have been raised to make sure that the legalization of marijuana and any windfall it brings to the state will include measures to correct the racially biased negative effects of the drug’s prohibition. Many