Bubatz on Broadway: Legal recreational marijuana has been sold in New York for the first time in US state history since Thursday. A Manhattan store at 750 Broadway, operated by the nonprofit Housing Works, opened its doors to the public at 4:20 p.m. (local time) – a nod to the long-standing figure of 420 (pronounced four-twenty). nature. A code for cannabis is -Consumption.
Housing Works operates the first of 36 retail licenses issued in the state to date. The organization mainly deals with the homeless, the previously incarcerated and people suffering from AIDS. Profits from the sale should flow back into this business.
The New York Parliament paved the way for legally available marijuana in March 2021, after a lengthy dispute, prioritizing certain groups in issuing licenses.
A new episode in New York
According to the civil rights organization ACLU, in 2019 black New Yorkers were arrested for weed 4.5 times more often than white New Yorkers despite the same consumption.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said on Thursday that this is “a new chapter for those most hurt by past failed policies”. At the same time, unlicensed dealers are gradually being phased out. A legal gray area emerged when the law was passed last year, and unregulated sales rose sharply within a few months.
A lot of money is at stake for New York, too: the state with a good population of 20 million expects a billion-dollar cannabis industry and hundreds of millions of US dollars in annual tax revenues in the coming years. (SDA)