If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. New York, New York, right?
Well, not so much with legal marijuana. While medical marijuana is legal in New York, the state has been slower to adapt legalization of recreational marijuana that’s already happened in Alaska, California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Massachusetts and Washington.
Maine voters approved it, too, but the Republican governor vetoed the bill to create a legalized marijuana system.
New York poll
A new poll, conducted by Emerson College for the Marijuana Policy Project, found 62 percent of New York voters favored making adult-use marijuana legal. About 28 percent opposed the idea.
The support is due at least in part to the idea of using taxes and fees on marijuana to pay off the state’s burgeoning debt. That debt is expected to reach $4.4 billion in the fiscal year that begins in April.
Steves is a pro-legalization advocate. His reasoning is that people who want marijuana will get it, anyway. He said it is better to tax and regulate marijuana rather than allow it to flow through the black market.
He called his position “anti-prohibition.” Steves also appeared before a legislative panel considering a bill that would make marijuana sales and possession legal for those over 21, accordingto the Chicago Tribune.
Two Chicago Democrats, Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, are sponsoring the bill. They project it will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and fees to the cash-starved state.
credit:entrepreneur.com
