ALBANY – The Assembly’s chief sponsor of a multiyear effort to legalize marijuana in New York says a deal with the State Senate and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo could be made in the next couple of weeks.
“It could actually happen outside of the budget process because that’s how close we are to completing a deal," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Buffalo Democrat, said in an interview Thursday morning.
Cuomo, under fire for sexual harassment allegations by six women, including several current or former staffers, has been especially eager to make a deal this year. In his budget plan, he proposed far more marijuana tax receipts to an effort lawmakers said is critical for a deal: a dedicated, annual funding stream to go to neighborhoods hit particularly hard by high marijuana arrest numbers during the nation’s long war on drugs.
Lawmakers want that money to go to various efforts, including job creation programs in low-income, minority neighborhoods, additional health care services and targeted economic development initiatives.
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“Talks are really good and really fruitful and I’m really encouraged," Peoples-Stokes said of negotiations over the dedicated marijuana tax revenues.
The expectation was that the marijuana legalization measure was going to be a part of the state budget – due March 31 – as a way to not have it be a “standalone bill” that might have less chance for support in the State Senate.
The measure, which has died for several years in Albany, would create a system of state regulation that would oversee the legal cultivation, distribution, sales and use of the drug. When fully underway, the state projects it could receive $300 million annually in marijuana taxes.
If approved, it would take up to two years or so for sales to begin given the amount of regulatory work that would still need to be carried out.
“I’ve never felt this encouraged before," Peoples-Stokes said this morning of the legalization effort.
The marijuana effort has come far since Cuomo in 2017 said he opposed making the drug legal, calling it a gateway to other more dangerous drugs. Cuomo and lawmakers couldn't strike a deal in 2019, chiefly over the tax revenue distribution issue and the Covid pandemic's appearance last March pushed aside many issues and ended talks over legalization in 2020.
The legalization push is opposed by a number of law enforcement, health and other groups.
