August 10, 2014

When Will New York State Legalize Marijuana?

August 10, 2014
new york marijuana decriminalization assembly

new york marijuana decriminalization assemblyI get asked all the time when I think ‘fill in the blank’ state will legalize marijuana. Rather than put everything into one article, I figured I’d address the states that I get asked about the most in its own article. I get asked all the time what I think about New York’s chances of legalizing marijuana, which is understandable because New York is such a large state, and also since New York recently legalized medical marijuana.

New York is not going to be an easy state to get reform passed compared to other states for one very important reason – New York does not have a citizen initiative process. Whereas states like Colorado, Washington, Oregon, and Alaska allow citizens to gather signatures to qualify something for the ballot, New York does not have such a process. The only ways that New York will legalize marijuana is through the New York Legislature, or when marijuana is legalized at the federal level.

So, just as I stated in my article about Texas, to answer the question ‘when will New York legalize marijuana?’ I pose the question ‘how marijuana friendly is the New York Legislature?’ The effort to legalize medical marijuana was not easy in New York State. It took a tremendous amount of pressure from activists, patients, and organizations to get medical marijuana passed in New York, and the version of medical marijuana that was passed left a lot to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, it was better than nothing, but it’s a far cry from the medical marijuana programs in other states like Colorado and Oregon.

If New York legalizes marijuana, and that’s a big if, what would it look like? According to New York’s medical marijuana law, patients can’t even smoke marijuana, they have to vaporize it. If New York legalized recreational marijuana, should we assume that smoking recreational marijuana would also be banned? This is one of many questions that will only be answered if/when New York legalizes marijuana.

New York has some of the most racially biased marijuana arrest rates in the country. If/when New York legalizes marijuana, it will be one of the biggest dominos to fall, and would speed up the process of federal legalization more than just about any other state. However, that might be a ways off. I think that New York has a great chance of legalizing recreational marijuana in some form by the end of 2016 via it’s legislature, but I think it’s more realistic that New York will legalize recreational marijuana in 2017/2018 after many other states legalize via the initiative process during the 2016 Election. There of course is the chance that federal legalization occurs around that same time, which would acheive the same effect for New Yorkers. Want to legalize marijuana in New York? Contact your legislator early and often!

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Reddit
[js-disqus]
Recent & Related Posts
Recent & Related Posts