The law on the release of marijuana was preceded by a year-long dispute. It is justified with job creation – but above all with the fight against racism.
After years of controversy, the New York State Parliament paved the way for marijuana legalization. The House of Commons in Albany passed a corresponding bill on Tuesday evening (local time) with 100 to 49 votes. Hours earlier, the Senate had also approved it with 40 to 23 votes. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has yet to sign the law, called it “trend-setting” after it was passed.
The measure creates jobs and, above all, remedies “the injustice of decades of law that was directed in a disproportionate manner against non-whites,” wrote the spokesman for the House of Commons, Carl E. Heastie, on Twitter. The main reason for legalization is the fight against structural racism: the current cannabis legislation in New York had discriminated against non-whites. Although consumption is more or less evenly distributed, blacks were many times more likely to be arrested for marijuana crimes.
After Cuomo signs the law, New York, with a population of almost 20 million – and the metropolis of the same name – will become the 15th US state to allow marijuana for free use. According to estimates, this could create a billion-dollar market in the coming years, generating $ 350 million a year in additional tax revenue.
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