“Light it up,” says NYC Mayor Adams, defying the state’s desire to crack down on illegal weed
On Friday (June 3), New York City Mayor Eric Adams gave millions of New Yorkers the green light to light up some weed and have a good time. And for now, he doesn’t care if you smoke or sell unlicensed cannabis.
“Have fun, light up, but most importantly, spend some money,” the mayor said during an appearance at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo at the Javits Center in Manhattan.
The New York adult market could launch before the end of 2022. The gray area between now and then is wide open, and Adams sees no harm in allowing the dozens of weed trucks, private clubs, and gift shops that have sprung up since the state passed legalization in March 2021.
But not all lawmakers in the Empire State are taking Mayor Adams’ relaxed approach.
The day before the mayor said “lights on,” the New York Senate, led by Senator Liz Krueger, passed legislation that would crack down on illegal possession and sale. This bill had to be approved by the state assembly before late last week in order to move forward. But Friday passed without a vote as Mayor Adams’ words came out loud and clear. The Senate-backed bill is now on hold until 2023.
Adams plays the good cop
Mayor Adams told the crowd at the Javits Center that he didn’t want to be tough on the state’s burgeoning cash crop — New York expects to rake in $1.25 billion from legal weed over the next six years. He says he intends to warn and slap the wrists of those who break the rules.
“‘Listen, you can’t do this,’ warn them,” Adams said of his plans for dealing with unlicensed dealers. Instead of fines and arrests, he wants to help all unlicensed dealers take steps to establish legitimate cannabis businesses.
The mayor has earmarked $5 million in his executive budget to help New Yorkers apply for recreational growing licenses. But he also said sellers who refuse to comply after their wrist slaps could face “some form” of enforcement.
“If they refuse to play by the rules, you need to come back and take some form of enforcement action, like E.g. a subpoena, like, you know, speaking about her ability to sell alcohol.”
Mayor Adams
In April, Mayor Adams flirted with the idea of building greenhouses on city buildings to grow weed and employ residents. Officials in Thailand and other nations have recently invested heavily in growing cannabis jobs.
A spectator at the Cannabis World Congress and Business Expo said he was about to go outside and smoke because “the mayor told us we could do it.” Adams laughed at a reporter who asked him if he had ever smoked cannabis before. The former NYPD cop is playing nice for now. But indicated he won’t wait forever for illegal sellers to try to legitimize their business.
“We need to incentivize those who have their illegal trucks or run the trucks to show them that this is a better way,” he said. “The goal is not to leave people behind.”
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New York joins New Jersey, Massachusetts and Illinois in incorporating social justice into their cannabis policies. In New Jersey, more than half of recreational cannabis licenses went to “mixed-ownership businesses,” majority-owned by residents who identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian, veteran, or female, as well as residents from “Impact zones”. hardest hit by the failed War on Drugs.
New York legislators pioneered the idea of bringing private equity investors together with established companies and micro-entrepreneurs to cross paths into the legal market. But they have good reasons to take the situation lightly.
In 2018, The New York Times reported that “Hispanic people across New York City were five times more likely to be arrested on low-level cannabis charges than white non-Hispanic people in the last three years; In Manhattan, blacks were arrested 15 times as often as whites, although surveys showed cannabis use rates were similar among the two groups.”
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Now that all New Yorkers are allowed to ignite, the mayor’s office has a few months to ensure all social debts are paid before recreational cannabis stores open in the city.
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