New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, under pressure to water down his marijuana legalization proposal, has revised the bill to allow delivery services and lower the criminal penalties for selling pot to a minor. As he tries to appease critics who claimed that the original version contained too many restrictions, Cuomo would permit delivery operations for consumers who can’t make it to a dispensary, while at the same time, maintaining a community opt-out provision to bar cannabis deliveries. Perhaps more troubling, Cuomo caved on penalties for selling weed to anyone under age 21, reducing the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor, saying the change would accelerate criminal justice reform. It’s not clear, however, if this will be enough to win passage—his third attempt to do so—at a time when neighboring states, including New Jersey, are moving ahead with legalization.
Meanwhile, another supposed benefit of legalization is to promote entrepreneurship in the cannabis industry for communities of color that were harmed during the failed “war on drugs.” Yet a new study in Nevada found that it’s not working out that way: marijuana business owners and board members are disproportionately white and male, while the industry workforce is more equitably spread among the state’s demographic groups.
And finally, the debate over whether to make it easier for physicians to prescribe the addiction-withdrawal medication buprenorphine is continuing, with some addiction treatment providers saying they favor maintaining the current licensing arrangement. They argue that the regulation—overturned by former President Trump, but then reinstated by President Biden as it undergoes review—ensures quality treatment, protects patients, and is also likely to reduce illegal reselling of pills. Currently, less than 7 percent of physicians are licensed to prescribe the medication; loosening the rule would widen that to almost all doctors. Less than 20 percent of the 1.8 million Americans with opioid use disorder receive any addiction medications.