Meeting in the Long Island suburb town of Hempstead on May 23, the executive committee of the New York state Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for the legalization of cannabis, emphasizing that millions could be added to state coffers if it were taxed like alcohol. The resolution called for an excise tax rate of 13 percent \u2014 the same as for booze.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe New York State Democratic Committee supports the legalization of marijuana which should be regulated and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol,\u201d read the resolution adopted by delegates at the convention,\u00a0according to the Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n The resolution called legalization \u201can important social justice issue.\u201d Echoing an increasingly popular sentiment in the state, it added: \u201cMillions of peaceful Americans have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, or otherwise needlessly criminalized and stigmatized, potentially for life, because of their use of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Democratic party is excited about making this a platform resolution,\u201d State Sen. Todd Kaminsky told\u00a0CBS New York<\/a> on the scene.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He, of course, added the requisite words of caution: \u201cAs a lawmaker, we have to make sure that it\u2019s going to be rolled out responsibly, that our roads are going to be safe and that our children are going to be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n With dizzying speed, cannabis has\u00a0become an issue at the forefront<\/a>\u00a0of New York state politics ahead of November\u2019s race for the governor\u2019s office. The party delegates were clearly responding, at least in large part, to the insurgent candidacy of television star Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo from the left. She has made legalization a key campaign plank. The\u00a0Cynthia for NY<\/a>\u00a0website is plugging a\u00a0petition<\/a>\u00a0that reads: \u201cIt\u2019s time for New York to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. In a blue state like New York, marijuana shouldn\u2019t even be an issue. \u2018Decriminalizing\u2019 isn\u2019t enough \u2014 we also have to correct past injustices, by expunging prior convictions disproportionately applied to people of color.\u201d<\/p>\n At the Hempstead convention, Cuomo and Nixon faced off in a procedural fight for the party\u2019s support. Cuomo emerged with a landslide victory, but the rhetoric in his acceptance speech reflected the threat of Nixon\u2019s populist fire. \u201cNew York is the alternative state to Trump\u2019s America,\u201d he proclaimed,\u00a0according to<\/a>\u00a0the Albany Times Union. He also dissed Republican challenger Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, as \u201cmini-Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n A longtime opponent of legalization, Cuomo also recently announced that he\u2019d formed a panel to study the question of marijuana legalization in his state.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n But this contest with the pro-legalization Nixon will play itself out again in the September state primary \u2014 and then again in the November election if (as seems likely) Cuomo gets the Democratic nomination in September and Nixon switches to the\u00a0Working Families Party<\/a>\u00a0ticket.<\/p>\n Another big development this week was New York City\u00a0Mayor Bill de Blasio\u2019s\u00a0surprise announcement<\/a>\u00a0that he is directing New York Police Department officers to stop making arrests for public toking. The\u00a0Daily News\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that the policy change will be part of a 30-day review to address the glaring racial disparity in marijuana arrests in Gotham City. More audaciously still, de Blasio says he\u2019ll also call a task force to explore how the city could respond to full legalization, hashing out issues such as how to deal with public smokers and what kind of zoning will be needed for dispensaries.<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>,\u00a0does your state\u2019s government support legal cannabis?<\/p>\n The post New York State Democratic Party Endorses Cannabis Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Meeting in the Long Island suburb town of Hempstead on May 23, the executive committee of the New York state Democratic Party passed a resolution calling for the legalization of cannabis, emphasizing that millions could be added to state coffers if it were taxed like alcohol. The resolution called forContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,4407,3918,3888,687,208,593,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26473"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26474,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26473\/revisions\/26474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: New York State Democratic Party Endorses Cannabis Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"