As April 20 or what’s known numerically as 4/20 is also known as National Marijuana Day, KCP asked several Brooklyn lawmakers about where current marijuana laws are in the state, as well as about legalizing marijuana either for medicinal use and/or recreational use in New York.
It should be noted that marijuana is now legal for recreational use in several states including Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and Washington DC – the nation’s capital.
It is currently legal in New York for medicinal purposes, but there are no dispensaries in Brooklyn and access to even legal medical marijuana is relatively difficult, according to State Sen. Diane Savino (D-Coney Island, Staten Island), who is known in lawmaker circles as the mistress of marijuana for her efforts to make medical marijuana legal in the state and to loosen the laws to legalize it for recreational use.
“Sixty percent of Americans now live in a state where there is legal marijuana in some way, and the president has said he is a fan of medical marijuana,” said Savino. “A lot of states now rely on revenue generated from marijuana sales, and it is said that Colorado now funds higher education through [tax] revenue generated off marijuana. As it stand recreational marijuana is now a $7 billion industry.”
Savino said while New York has a reputation of being a progressive state it is on the repressive side when it comes to the marijuana and noted how long it to the state to repeal the draconian Rockefeller drug laws, which put thousands of people in jail on drug offenses. When it was made legal for medical purposes, the governor insisted on very strict requirements on the program, and it is still not allowable to be smoked for medical use, she said.
“It took a real effort to get medical marijuana done, and resocializing the way people think about marijuana is not easy. It also doesn’t help as the city comes to grip with the opioid crisis. Legalizing marijuana won’t increase other drug use,” she said
Savino said part of the reason there isn’t any medical marijuana dispensaries in Brooklyn is between the high price of renting space and all the regulatory issues, it’s hard to make it profitable. On the federal level it’s still illegal to utilize banking insurance and tax laws to make a profit off marijuana, she said.
“You can’t write off a nickel for medical marijuana on your federal tax returns,” Savino said.
Savino said she is planning to go to Washington to meet with the State’s congressional delegation about rescheduling marijuana as legal if only for medicinal purposes to at least open up the door for federally funded research on the use of medical marijuana.
City Councilman Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) said he is absolutely in favor of legalizing marijuana for recreational use, and all efforts to decriminalize it were going in that direction.
“The biggest issue in just decriminalizing it is that doesn’t allow the going back and clearing records of those already busted for it [marijuana],” said Williams.
Williams also noted that where it is legal, people who were previously in the marijuana selling business are not being given the opportunity to make money now that it’s legal. Some bills written on legal marijuana has it that anybody with a criminal history is not allowed to get into the business, he said.
“It creates an environment where folks are at the bottom, and another where they stay on the bottom,” said Williams. “Still it should be legal and they should regulate it just like they regulate alcohol.”
Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Kensington) said he supports the expansion of medical marijuana in New York State.
“Furthermore, I support the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, which is already in place in New York. If these policies are deemed successful then New York should seriously consider legalizing recreational marijuana use. If New York were to consider legalizing marijuana it should first look to Colorado, California and others to see what impact Marijuana had on the public health of those states,” said Carroll.
“After this careful deliberation is done – I believe it will be clear that legalizing and regulating marijuana use is both a better public health and economic policy for New York. Our current laws still push most marijuana use and distribution underground – which in turn leads to crime and often times marijuana that is laced with drugs or products to enhance the potency of marijuana but can cause dire side effects.”
