Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Cuomo’s Cannabis Proposal Puts Profit Over People

Creating a formal cannabis industry while continuing to criminalize New Yorkers who participate in the informal industry shows that Governor Cuomo has once again prioritized profit and good PR over people.

Eli Dunn

February 21, 2021
Facebook Twitter Share

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced new amendments to a proposed adult use cannabis program, the Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act (CRTA), which would effectively legalize cannabis use. His main proposals, which include doubling funding for a social equity program intended to promote “racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the adult-use cannabis industry” from $50 million to $100 million, and introducing delivery services that could create jobs in directly impacted communities, look good on paper. But they fall far short of addressing the harm caused by New York State and the NYPD’s decades long war on cannabis use. 

Penalties for “improper” sales, or sales which occur outside of the profit-generating bureaucracy of the state, range from Class A misdemeanor charges, which can result in up to one year of incarceration, to class E and D felony charges, which carry a maximum penalty of seven years of incarceration. Creating a formal cannabis industry while continuing to criminalize New Yorkers who participate in the informal industry shows that Governor Cuomo has once again prioritized profit and good PR over people.

New York has a long history of violence against people who use drugs, especially those from Black, Brown, and working class communities. Although possessing small amounts of cannabis has been decriminalized in New York since 1977, decades of carceral and racist policies like stop and frisk have devastated communities. In New York in 2018, Black people were eight times as likely and Latinx people were five times as likely to be arrested for low level cannabis possession compared to white people. 

Generations of people have been forced to suffer through the housing, employment, and social discrimination that accompanies a criminal record. Despite Cuomo’s claim that the CRTA will assist communities “that have been harmed through disproportionate enforcement of the war on drugs,” his proposal does not even include a provision for automatic expungement for those affected by previous policy.

Cuomo has argued that his proposal will “address and correct decades of institutional wrongs.” But the contents of the CRTA clearly center the creation of a lucrative industry over the needs of directly affected communities. Cannabis legalization is expected to generate upwards of 3.5 billion dollars, including hundreds of millions in tax revenue. 

Competing legislation would split most of the tax revenue between community grants, drug treatment, and public education. Outside of the $100 earmarked for limited funding for social services and a planned increase of said amount by $10 million each following year until 2026, Cuomo’s proposal makes no assurances that the majority of the profits will go back into the community. This is especially concerning considering that the NYPD’s 2021 budget is around $10.2 billion, which is largely generated through taxes of the kind Cuomo is proposing.

Reducing the negative consequences of cannabis use is a deeper project than legalizing it and using the profits to make up for a budget shortfall. Harm reduction entails centering the voices and leadership of drug users and those most directly affected by drug use and associated negative impacts such as police violence and incarceration.

You May Also Be Interested In: To Truly Address Addiction, Legalize Drugs Under Worker Control 

Under the current system, it is impossible to create a world in which people who use drugs can do so with safety and dignity. Capitalism, police, prisons, and all related structures must be abolished, and we must reinvest those resources into community based resources and solutions in order for people to use cannabis without fear of incarceration and state violence.

Facebook Twitter Share

Guest Posts

Lord Balfour Was an Imperialist Warmonger 

We should give our full solidarity to the Palestine Action comrade who defaced a portrait of Arthur Balfour at Cambridge University. But the problem for everyone who opposes the genocide against Gaza is how to massify and politically equip the movement.

Daniel Nath

March 21, 2024

“Poor Things” Floats Like a Butterfly and Stings Like a Butterfly

Poor Things is a fantastical comedy with beautiful set design and costumes and an Oscar-winning performance from Emma Stone. So why did it leave me feeling so empty? Despite juggling feminist and socialist ideas, the film is ideologically muddled and often self-contradictory.

Basil Rozlaban

March 16, 2024

The CUNY PSC Must Organize for Palestine

CUNY workers and students are rising up to defend their university against cuts, and to fight for the liberation of Palestine.

Lucien Baskin

March 8, 2024

The Tide Is Turning: New Yorkers Are Speaking Out for Palestinian Liberation

The city's anti-Zionist movement is speaking out for Palestinian liberation. Attitudes in the city's Jewish community are shifting rapidly.

Ana Orozco

February 23, 2024

MOST RECENT

A square in Argentina is full of protesters holding red banners

48 Years After the Military Coup, Tens of Thousands in Argentina Take to the Streets Against Denialism and the Far Right

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Argentina on March 24 to demand justice for the victims of the state and the military dictatorship of 1976. This year, the annual march had renewed significance, defying the far-right government’s denialism and attacks against the working class and poor.

Madeleine Freeman

March 25, 2024

The Convulsive Interregnum of the International Situation

The capitalist world is in a "permacrisis" — a prolonged period of instability which may lead to catastrophic events. The ongoing struggles for hegemony could lead to open military conflicts.

Claudia Cinatti

March 22, 2024

Berlin’s Mayor Loves Antisemites

Kai Wegner denounces the “antisemitism” of left-wing Jews — while he embraces the most high-profile antisemitic conspiracy theorist in the world.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 22, 2024

What “The Daily” Gets Right and Wrong about Oregon’s Move to Recriminalize Drugs

A doctor at an overdose-prevention center responds to The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times, on the recriminalization of drugs in Oregon. What are the true causes of the addiction crisis, and how can we solve it?

Mike Pappas

March 22, 2024