The state’s cannabis management and legislative leadership fights Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposal. For adults in New York.
The governor’s budget changes the Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act (MRTA) and reverts to an old law that allowed the odor or presence of cannabis in vehicles to determine the probable cause of the crime.
“It undermines the basic tenets and decriminalization of the MRTA,” OCM acting and deputy director Felicia Abu Reid told Spectrum News 1.
For years under past drug laws, law enforcement has used the smell of cannabis to justify attacks, car searches and arrests.
The governor’s proposal is part of an effort to crack down on driving impairedness in the state, but is expected to be a budget fight with Congress.
“In the upcoming budget, you won’t be working in New York and won’t work with cannabis, so you need to understand how you’ll be publishing that proposal,” Reed said.
Congressional majority leader Crystal Peoples Stokes wrote the MRTA and said he was ready to oppose any attempt to abolish some of it.
“We need to review to let people know, not make any changes,” she said after the legal events in Albany.
The assembly leader was part of a panel on law at the annual meetings of Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus over the weekend.
“This fight isn’t over,” she said. “It’s more important than ever and it’s important that it be organized to make sure this law is not crushed.”
People’s Stokes said she was against the governor’s proposal but declined to comment further.
“It’s just a fire, it’s not necessary,” she said.
Several cannabis organisations in the state, including cannabis growers and processors, are also opposed to the change. Various groups will push Congress to provide more funding to drug recognition experts within the budget, and encourage people to expand legal sites to consume cannabis and reduce driving under the influence. Ta.
“I’m totally against what MRTA should represent,” said Joseph Calderone, co-founder and president of the Cannabis Farmers Alliance. “When it comes to normalizing cannabis, it should be a change in our approach to justice.”
Kelan Castetter, policy adviser to the Imperial Cannabis Manufacturers Alliance, argues that the governor’s proposal could negatively affect the cannabis labour and make employment even more difficult.
“I’m worried that this will inherently criminalize work in the cannabis industry,” he said. “It’s inevitable that you’ll leave, especially since you work in a cultivation or processing facility. Or, employees will be able to smell a cannabis-like smell, even if they stop and change to other clothes. Leave it. Cannabis is very exciting.”
This issue was a point of clinging to the council during the original compromise signed by former government government Andrew Cuomo.
Several lawmakers and cannabis stakeholders said Hochul had not discussed her intention to change the law together with them, and they were surprised by the language of her executive spending plan.
“The Hochul administration is actively negotiating with the state legislature to ensure New Yorkers maintain drug driving while maintaining MRTA stock targets,” said Kassie White, the governor’s spokesman. Using the domestic cannabis market will continue to work to make this sector successful. ”
Reed said the OCM is pleased with other proposals in Hochul’s spending plan. This includes enforcement, compliance, licensing, and $5 million to hire 29 additional staff to assist attorneys.
The agency has 215 staff — an increase of 35 from last summer when Reed took over, but she added that the department has a long way to go to build staffing levels.
“That (29 more employees) is a good start, but we also have to think about it when we’re staffing to make sure we’re doing that in a way that doesn’t lose people. I think we have to,” Reed said. .
People-Stokes and some cannabis groups also to support licensees of conditional adult use clinics who received loans of up to $100,000 from state equity funds that failed to support many license holders. , promoting millions of dollars within budget.
“Small businesses in cannabis industry need access to capital. The only capital they have access to is predatory loans, very high interest loans, meaning that if they have access to it, they will fail later on That could be destined to be destined, Castetter said.
Last week, the Cannabis Administration expanded its investigation into complex trade practice violations and launched the Department of Trade Practices to combat market abuse.
