Cuomo to tour cannabis states

ALBANY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo will travel to three states that allow recreational marijuana use in the coming weeks ahead of his push to pass legalization as part of the 2020-21 state budget.

Eleven states and the District of Columbia legalized recreational marijuana use in the last decade. The governor plans to visit Massachusetts, Illinois and California or Colorado to learn more about their programs before New York’s April 1 budget deadline. Recreational marijuana was legalized in Massachusetts in 2017. Illinois passed its Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act last year.

“There is a lot to learn here,” Cuomo said in a press call Friday. “When it comes to these kind of laws...if you can learn from someone else’s experiences, learn from someone else’s experiences. If you can do it right the first time, do it right the first time.”

Cuomo included a 200-page bill in his $178.6 billion budget proposal to legalize the use of marijuana for adults 21 and older. The bill includes initiatives to direct funds to communities of color and provide them with steady footing to enter the new industry as entrepreneurs — specifics that were excluded from last year’s iteration.

Cuomo will travel to the other states in the coming weeks to speak to other officials about their challenges with legalizing marijuana, including local law enforcement.

“There have been issues in Massachusetts, so I said let’s do intelligent for a change,” Cuomo said Friday. “Let’s go look at where they did this, find out what happened after they did it, what they had to fix and how they figured out the law enforcement problem.”

Cuomo reiterated the importance for him to travel to the other states and conduct the research in person.

“I want to talk to the head of the Illinois State Police and say, ‘How did you do this?,’” Cuomo said. “‘How did you do the enforcement when you pull over a guy that you think is on marijuana?’”

Lawmakers failed to pass statewide recreational use in 2019 after legislators couldn’t agree on how to regulate entrepreneurial licenses and where the revenue from the new industry should go. Cuomo’s office estimates marijuana legalization will bring in $300 million by 2024, with revenue starting to come in within 18 months.

Twin County state representatives are split on the debate.

“I think it’s a terrible idea — I’ve been against it since day one,” said state Sen. George Amedore, R-46. “Recreational marijuana is a narcotic. It’s a gateway drug and everyone knows it is, and we have a huge problem with addiction that we face now in society. If you ask anyone who has overcome their addiction, most of the time, they’ll tell you it started by using some gateway substance whether it was alcohol, tobacco or marijuana.”

Amedore railed against Cuomo’s plan to travel across the country to push legalizing marijuana by the budget’s April 1 deadline, saying there are better uses of taxpayer money.

“Gov. Cuomo should be using those taxpayer dollars to travel to states that have lower or no income tax, lower taxation, lower regulation and more opportunities for residents...not for a social issue that will bring in tax revenue he can use in the general fund however he wishes,” Amedore said.

Assemblywoman Didi Barrett, D-106, generally supports legalizing marijuana.

“Given the far-reaching implications, I think the governor’s plan to visit states that have recently legalized marijuana and learn from their experiences is prudent,” Barrett said.

Legalization is complex, Barrett said, adding the topic touches a broad variety of policy areas including agriculture, traffic safety, criminal justice and economic development.

“It is important to me that any legalization program allows small, outdoor farms to flourish,” Barrett said. “Small farm businesses are essential to our agricultural economy, and they must be given equal opportunity with larger operations.

Assemblyman Chris Tague, R-102, does not support the state’s legalization bill as it stands because no test exists to determine the amount of THC — marijuana’s main psychoactive compound — in a person’s bloodstream like it does with alcohol.

“I would consider supporting it, however, if we come up with a test like we have with alcohol to see if someone is within the limit to operate a piece of equipment. There needs to be a limit and there needs to be a test. Until we come up with that test, I can’t support it.”

Tague agrees with Cuomo’s travel plans to check in with other states where marijuana is legal, and hopes the governor asks for guidance about how they regulate who grows and sells cannabis, the quantities people can buy and the legal limit to operate a vehicle or watch a child.

“I commend him for getting information from other states,” Tague said. “We have to figure out what mistakes other states have made and we have to fix those before we bring it to the floor to vote.”