The “Cannabis Act” legislation would create a new Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) overseen by a Cannabis Control Board, according to an internal legislative memo obtained by CNN.
The proposal would eventually allow New Yorkers over the age of 21 to grow their own plants at home, and a 13% tax would be imposed on retail sales for state and local tax revenues.
In New York, board officials would issue licenses for various stages of the supply chain – agriculture, processing, distribution, dispensaries, and “consumption stores,” the memo said. The new state office would oversee the regulation of adult use and medicinal cannabis programs.
Some OMC officials would be tasked with focusing on social justice, including the goal of awarding 50% of the licenses to “applicants for social equality,” such as those from communities affected by the cannabis ban and proprietary companies. are of minorities and women, the memo said.
Percentages of the programme’s income go to the State Lottery Fund for Education and the Fund for Drug Treatment and Public Education. Another would go to the Community Grants Reinvestment Fund for “grants to qualified community organizations and approved local government agencies to reinvest in communities disproportionately affected by past federal and state drug policies,” the memo said.
The plan would allow law enforcement to justify suspicion of intoxication from the smell of cannabis, but would ban the use of fragrance as a justification for searching for contraband in a car, the memo said. “Restriction by cannabis” would be included in the “Driving with Impaired Ability” violation, which is the lowest degree of the “Drunk Driving” statute.
The new program would also come with a new set of criminal penalties for illegal possession and sale of cannabis, including a violation of three ounces of flour or 24 grams of concentrated cannabis and a Class D felony for more than 10 pounds of flour or four pounds of concentrated cannabis. .
Municipalities can choose not to participate in the program if residents vote in a local law prohibiting adult use dispensaries within the jurisdiction. Residents could bypass these laws at the polls through the state’s permissive referendum process, the memo said.
Marijuana legalization in New Jersey followed a 2020 ballot in which New Jersey voted to legalize recreational marijuana. State lawmakers, unable to get enough support to pass a bill to fully legalize marijuana, agreed to put the question directly to voters: “Do you approve an amendment to the constitution to allow a Legalize a controlled form of marijuana called ‘cannabis’? “
Like New Jersey, Arizona also voted to legalize recreational marijuana, and Montana voted to establish both 21 as the legal age to purchase, possess and consume cannabis through a constitutional amendment and to legalize marijuana for recreational use. South Dakota approved legalization for both recreational and medical use – the first state to ever approve medical and recreational marijuana measures simultaneously – and Mississippi voted to legalize medical marijuana, becoming one of the first Southern states to do so.
CNN’s Brian Vitagliano, Caroline Kelly, Lauren Dezenski and Alicia Wallace contributed to this report.