Preliminary data suggests that so far about 50 percent of the more than 1,500 municipalities across New York State have decided to opt-out of allowing cannabis commerce, under the marijuana legalization law approved last year. Cities, towns, and villages had until the end of the year to decide whether to permit pot dispensaries and on-site consumption lounges (or both) within their borders. Another option was to do nothing and thereby automatically opt-in or to say no now while awaiting further guidance and regulations from the Cannabis Control Board, before formulating a pot policy right for a community. A final count is expected in the next few weeks, but so far it looks like New York may resemble neighboring New Jersey—which also legalized weed in 2021—with more than half of localities choosing bans. This result would also align with early legal states such as California, Oregon, and Colorado where municipalities overwhelmingly said they didn’t want marijuana businesses.
And finally, perhaps newly legal pot states could learn a lesson from early adopters like Colorado, which legalized medical marijuana 20 years ago, a physician writes in the opinion section of the Colorado Sun. The goal at that time was to help patients with certain medical conditions that were known to be accompanied by chronic pain, nausea and vomiting, weight loss, muscle spasms, and some other physiological symptoms. Even though the number of such patients was said to be small, tens of thousands of 18- to 25-year-old residents were suddenly suffering from such conditions, opening the floodgates of “medical” marijuana use, as well as recreational pot legalization and an increase in adverse effects including cognitive functioning and psychosis. Physicians in the state now see an epidemic of acute transient psychotic symptoms, particularly among adolescents. The commentary concludes with a please to stop the charade that medical marijuana is medicine, noting that this drug is not sanctioned by the FDA for safety and effectiveness, the dosage is not checked or controlled, physicians don’t prescribe it, and pharmacies don’t dispense it.