ALBANY – Governor Cuomo is lobbying state lawmakers to approve the use of recreational marijuana by the time the state budget is adopted. It is due by April 1.
Legalizing the drug has met with resistance from some lawmakers in recent years, blocking its passage.
Because of the major cash shortfall in the state’s coffers because of the coronavirus, the governor is pushing extra hard for its adoption, which he said would create 60,000 new jobs, and spur $3.5 billion in economic activity while generating an estimated $350 million in tax revenue once fully implemented.
State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther (D, Forestburgh) said making recreational use legal would have economic benefits.
“I think regulating it is better than having it bought illegally. People can get arrested at certain points. All lot of the issues are that people would pay taxes on it. It would be more like alcohol,” she said.
Gunther, a registered nurse, said it can cause difficulties while driving, and it is “mood altering and mind altering so I would hope that people would use it very safely and consider their choices are important to all of us.”
Included in the governor’s proposal is a $100 million fund to help revitalize communities that have been most harmed by the war on drugs.
