New York State Bar Association Supports Recreational Cannabis

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]T[/dropcap]he New York State Bar Association approved a report on Feb. 7 that supports the legalization of recreational cannabis in New York in the near future.

According to Syracuse.com, the report includes plans for cannabis testing in a legal market, management of a regulatory system, the option to opt-out for areas that don’t want legal cannabis, social equity under the new program, tax rules for a legal industry, guidelines for marketing if cannabis is legal and an environmental rundown for the future industry.

The report also explained that it would be beneficial for the state of New York to join the RAND Corporation, which would be helpful to analyze recreational cannabis and how exactly it should be legalized in New York States to yield the best results. Often when legalization takes place in a state or locality, this group or another think tank is enlisted to help smooth over the process of legalizing cannabis and enforcing equity in the new market. The report also endorsed exempting cannabis from the federal Controlled Substances Act so that an overall, legal change would take place at the federal level.

New York made headlines for the worst when legal cannabis wasn’t passed last year, and currently, cannabis is only legal medically. The state has fallen under a lot of scrutiny for its intense “War on Drugs” and disproportionate targeting of minorities.

At this point, cannabis has been decriminalized for two ounces or less in New York, and it’s no secret that legal cannabis in the state is starting to gain traction. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has continually supported legal cannabis and even included it in his recent budget plan, and the state is also looking for more opportunities to study cannabis and what it can do. It wouldn’t be a surprise if cannabis is legalized in 2020.