The Mayor of New York is proposing to grow weed on public housing roofs – there’s just one big problem

New York Mayor Eric Adams wants to use public housing rooftops as greenhouses for cannabis. Despite the innovative idea that could provide some solutions for the city’s burgeoning cannabis industry, current federal laws make it unlikely that will happen.

According to the Gothamist, Adams made the comments at the New York State Association’s Association of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislators’ 51st Annual Legislative Conference on April 9.

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“We want to explore the possibilities of having greenhouse space on the New York City Housing Authority rooftops to grow cannabis,” Adams said. “The jobs can come from NYCHA residents. Proceeds and training can go directly to employing people in the area.”

Gothamist reports that the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency responsible for these types of permits and permits, said they were not approached by the mayor’s office. “HUD has not been approached on this matter,” they wrote in an email. “Not much else to say, marijuana is illegal in public housing.”

Adams’ idea would be a convenient way to solve the problem of growing marijuana in a crowded city with not much space left. According to the mayor’s office, their priority is to let the people affected by the War on Drugs be the first to benefit from the cannabis industry.

“(Federal) laws that are still on the books continue to hurt the same communities that have been under attack for decades,” Adams said. “The House of Representatives passed legislation to that effect earlier this month, and we need those who are impeding progress at the federal level to follow New York’s lead.”

Photo by Visoot Uthairam/Getty

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Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives passed legislation decriminalizing marijuana, which would make the drug easier to deal with at the state and federal levels. Approval of the bill could make marijuana easier to test and remove it from the country’s controlled substances list. For that to happen, the bill would need to be approved by the Senate, which remains unlikely.