Advocates held a rally on Tuesday, following last week’s revelations by The City’s Rosalind Adams showing the plan to finance New York’s cannabis industry moved forward despite the major concerns of numerous people involved in the process of implementing the state’s recreational cannabis program.
The Juneteenth Eve rally included elected officials, social justice advocates, and people impacted personally by New York’s longtime war on cannabis. They hoped to protect the progressive aspects of New York’s legalization law, prevent corporate control and increase the weight of community voices moving forward.
Chief among those advocates’ concerns across the 500 emails obtained by The City got access to was the fact that the deal sucked. The things that immediately raised eyebrows included steep costs and unreasonable repayment timelines. Most importantly these concerns were raised with the Governor Kathy Hochul as her office pushed to make her previous promises on funding the cannabis program a reality.
“The social equity component of the MRTA is absolutely essential for our communities in Brooklyn and Queens,” said Senator Julia Salazar. “MRTA implementation is a chance to address the harm that too many New Yorkers have experienced due to many years of criminalization. But the encroachment of big cannabis corporations in New York’s market poses a threat to the MRTA’s success, especially for small, legal cannabis businesses. For the good intent of the MRTA to become reality for more communities of color and justice-impacted New Yorkers, we need Governor Hochul to allow the Cannabis Control Board to function as an independent body, and for the Office of Cannabis Management to be empowered to continue to implement the MRTA equitably.”
Salazar hit the nail on the heart in terms of who should be taking the lead. The concerns from New York’s …
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Author: Jimi Devine / High Times
