New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo renewed his vow on Wednesday to legalize the state’s recreational use of marijuana, proposing a new office to regulate the market and licensing opportunities for communities most affected by the disparate enforcement of drug laws, reports the New York Times. “I think this should have been passed years ago,” Cuomo said. “This is a year where we do need the funding and a lot of New Yorkers are struggling. This year will give us the momentum to get it over the goal line.” The pledge marks Cuomo’s third attempt at legalizing marijuana; similar efforts have unraveled each year since Democrats took control of the Legislature in 2019, mostly as a result of disagreements over how to distribute lucrative tax dollars from marijuana sales and the licenses to sell the drug.
The push to legalize marijuana is likely to have far greater momentum in 2021, given the profound fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. New York State leaders kicked off the new legislative session on Wednesday with a once-in-a-generation challenge: how to rescue a state in a pandemic-driven crisis. Tax revenues have dried up, leading to an estimated shortfall of nearly $63 billion over the next four years. That has given new wind to measures that could raise revenue, like increasing taxes on the rich, allowing mobile sports betting and legalizing marijuana. In November, voters in neighboring New Jersey approved legal use of recreational marijuana, heightening the prospects that it would become one of the nation’s largest marijuana markets.