Cuomo, Legislature Pushing Separate Pot Legalization Bills [POLL]

NEW YORK — In December 2018, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he wanted to legalize the use of marijuana.

In 2019, he decriminalized the penalties for unlawful possession of cannabis. The bill also created a way for people to have their criminal records expunged for having a small amount of weed.

During his 2020 State of the State address, he vowed that New York would legalize pot in 2020. It didn't make it into the budget.

During his 2021 State of the State address, Cuomo proposed legalizing and creating a comprehensive system to oversee and regulate pot in New York.

The governor proposed establishing an Office of Cannabis Management that would oversee not only new adult use of pot but also the state's existing medical and cannabinoid hemp programs.

"Not only will legalizing and regulating the adult-use cannabis 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," Cuomo said in a news release.

The problem is, Democrats in Albany are pushing for what they consider is a better way to put more emphasis on and more funding behind helping communities adversely affected by prohibiting weed, WBFO NPR reported.

Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, D-Ithaca, said the governor's proposal doesn't truly address the inequities that resulted from the war on drugs because it only allocates a set amount of money — $100 million — to help revitalize communities harmed by drugs.

The Legislature's bill will put 50 percent of all pot-generated tax revenue into social equity programs.

Still, there seems to be a real push to legalize marijuana by April 1, when the budget is due, and the work will be to find ways to negotiate and/or compromise on such issues as Cuomo's proposal making marijuana too expensive and, thus, pushing people to find it on the black market, Rochester First said.

Supporters of the legislature's bill also said Cuomo's version ups the criminal penalty for having a small amount of illicit marijuana, which is currently a violation, to a misdemeanor after legalization.

Cuomo did say that there was no intention to criminalize possession and that changes during negotiations are possible.

So now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.