Northeastern State Leaders Discuss Cannabis Legalization

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]fficials in several northeastern states are working together to consolidate cannabis and vaping regulations regionally.

According to the Associated Press, governors from New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have announced that they want to work together to create cannabis and vaping regulations. The governors from these states, all of whom are Democrats, met up in New York City, New York to talk about how best to approach the topic. There, they met with officials from Massachusetts and Colorado to talk about how to regulate cannabis correctly.

“What we want to do is coordinate this on a regional basis,” said Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, explaining that in his view, the “patchwork quilt of marijuana regulations makes no sense at all.”

So far, based on the meeting, the governors came up with a few rules and regulations that could work for recreational cannabis, including laws about THC content, edible regulations, taxing and advertising. The idea is for all the neighboring states to have similar policies.

Lamont also stated that “different states are going to have different time frames” for passing cannabis legalization, so this isn’t a promise that they will all legalize right away, or at the same time. He also claimed that more work needs to be done but assured that the states would continue to work together to come up with a plan for legalization. “We just want to make sure we go in with our eyes open and we’re consistent,” he said.

In addition to cannabis, the governors also talked about banning flavored tobacco vape products, and apparently, they were mostly in agreement that the products should be banned. “I think you’ll see some unanimity on that at the start,” Lamont said. 

New York has already decriminalized cannabis, and Pennsylvania officials are working on another legalization plan. As upcoming legalization becomes more and more of a reality, there’s no doubt that states will need to continue to collaborate.