As mass protests continue across the United States, New York is pushing to pass The Safer NY Act which includes legislation for marijuana legalization.
New York Senator, Julia Salazar, stated that legislators should look into passing the Act to “help increase police transparency and help increase accountability to New Yorkers’ most common encounters with police.”
Salazar also stated that although New York expanded marijuana decriminalization in the past year, “it’s not enough until we fully make it legal and we stop criminalizing people for using it, especially for using it responsibly, and stop criminalizing people for something that is completely legal within driving distance of our state.”
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has pushed for marijuana legalization in his previous two annual budget proposals and said he believes that New York will eventually pass this policy change. However, the timeline for when this policy change will happen is still uncertain. Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes stated that she hopes to see marijuana legalization happen this year, but she recognized the challenges during this time due to the pandemic and the response to the Coronavirus has been the main focus lately.