Andrew Cuomo, who campaigned on legalizing marijuana, couldn’t get it done with a majority Democratic legislature (for the first time in a long time). Instead, we get a tepid glass of Cuomo-aide:
The new law will reduce the penalty for unlawful possession of marijuana to a violation punishable by fine, and remove criminal penalties for possession of any amount of marijuana under two ounces.
And why didn’t this year’s effort pass? Fucking Cuomo wanted a slush fund:
According to the Times, some progressive legislators want to commit marijuana revenue to communities that have been most negatively impacted by the war on drugs. But Cuomo has resisted those proposals, instead favoring legislative language that would give the executive branch — and the governor — more control over what to do with cannabis revenue.
On the bright side, after Cuomo was primaried by Cynthia Nixon, we aren’t hearing any more discussion about a run for President–hell, he’s about the only white male Democrat who isn’t running. I guess we have to take our satisfaction in the little things when it comes to this useless asshole, because he sure can’t deliver anything big.
Cervantes
To be honest, I can’t understand what he considers to be the point of his own existence. What exactly is this man trying to do, or be? And why?
Betty Cracker
There’s a “shitheads” tag? Damn! I’ve been relying on “asshole” for like five years now!
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I like Cynthia, but the reason he’s not running is because he said “america has never been great” and his closest aide Joseph Percoco was sent to jail for corruption. Of course this flubs/issues would never matter to a republican as the media would give them a free pass, but there’s a double standard against Democrats.
rikyrah
Melinda Katz declared victor in Democratic primary race for Queens DA by just 60 votes, Tiffany Cabán to challenge results
By CATHY BURKE
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Melinda Katz was declared the winner of the June Democratic primary race for Queens district attorney by a razor-thin 60 votes in a quick-and-quiet city Board of Elections certification Monday afternoon.
“The board has worked tirelessly to ensure that every vote is counted accurately and correctly,” Board of Elections President John Zaccone declared at the less-than 10-minute meeting.
The board certified the count as 34,920 votes for Queens beep Katz and 34,860 for public defender Tiffany Cabán.
But the fight is far from over
rikyrah
I’m glad the Black Caucus stood together, and wouldn’t let go of their demands in exchange for their votes. If they didn’t want to do right by communities devastated by the ‘ Drug War’, then phuck em.
Barbara
@Cervantes: He wants to be a king maker, and he wants to set the priority for what counts as “liberal.” Remember when Cuomo took all kinds of credit when he brokered a deal to enable gay marriage in New York? That deal would never have been necessary if he hadn’t been so insistent on carrying on with the “power sharing” arrangement between Democrats basically acting as Republicans with other Republican senators, and before that, the gerrymandering that made it possible. His star and his power have fallen off noticeably now that New York really does have a majority Democratic legislature.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I thought Cynthia was very charismatic, compelling and ran on some great issues. She also had the advantage of running as a fresh choice against a boring, unpopular, corrupt incumbent during a cycle of voter revolt. But embracing the Socialist label was folly. She did worse than perennial dull gadfly/nobody Zephr Teachout and her 2014 campaign.
All the people on social media who said embracing Socialism was a great idea because deep down every working class white is a socialist were predictably dead wrong.
rikyrah
You remember when they were trying to tie ANY Black person shooting to Black Lives Matter, and by extension – 44. If they had ever said it, in their lives, then BLM /44 was responsible.
A phucking Domestic TERRORIST writes and RECEIVES a letter from Dolt45, and this is the first I’m hearing of it. ALLLLLLLLL the stories that have been written about that shooting, and THIS wasn’t in the first sentence of all of them?
I read all kinds of stories about that shooting, and do not remember this-AT ALL???
t.co/7JwxGNyEHl
— Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) July 29, 2019
Brachiator
Cuomo may be a dope, but the weed boom has been a bust in many places, and is not delivering a natural high in the form of clouds of cash.
It may take more time, but legalization seems inevitable.
CarolDuhart2
I don’t understand the footdragging in any blue state after Colorado and California at all. Go to full legalization and be done with it. Some states have to at least pander to the bible-thumpers, but NY isn’t one of them. I mean, from what I read somewhere, New York state ended prohibition before the nation did. I doubt that sentiment has changed very much with pot, and with pot being one reason for stop and frisk, Cuomo should be more than willing to end this.
But he wants a slush fund. Which is a reason not to go along with him. No Governor-or President should have a publicly financed slush fund with its lack of accountability.
A Ghost To Most
Any legalization effort that prevents home growing is not a solution; it’s a payoff to a few rich fucks.
Jay
bloomberg.com/quicktake/marijuana-legalization
rikyrah
@Jay:
Have they resolved the banking issue with pot dealers?
laura
Cuomo, it’s like joementum, only with less dem. Wish he’d get forced out of the party.
So opposite in every way than his father.
Also, Rikyrah is the moral center of this blog and her links bring matters to our collective attention. I’m grateful beyond words.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Don’t think so. You have to change federal law.
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Ok…so, what do they do with their money? How to they handle financial transactions that any other legal business could do via bank?
I know that I’ve read how they are targets for robbers, because thieves know that they have lots of cash on hand.
Jay
@rikyrah:
In Canada they can bank, they and their employees just can’t go to the States or spend money in the US by buying equiptment or supplies.
Professor Bigfoot
@rikyrah: EVERYTHING is done on a STRICTLY CASH BASIS.
EVERYTHING.
Which, as you say, makes them prime targets for robbers and thieves. I watched a VICE piece about a veteran led company whose job is to *protect the money.* Those guys always operate like they’re in Baghdad, no lie; and armed right to the teeth.
In Gollyfornia, whether you go to a dispensary or if you have it delivered, *you pay cash.* The one time I was in a dispensary (just because, as a child of the ’70s, I just wanted to SEE the inside of one!) there was an ATM machine sitting there in the shop.
(proof that I will bloody well de-lurk whenever and wherever the hell I want. ??)
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
I’ve only talked with a couple of tax professionals who were thinking about taking on clients in the cannabis industry, and I really don’t know much about the typical operations of these businesses.
I ran across this in a recent Forbes article.
States are trying to get the feds to be reasonable, but it’s not easy.
Mart
Bill NY ended up passing basically greenlights black market marijuana sales without any revenue for the state. Kind of assinine. Black market sales are what keeps pot tax revenue down. A person with a dozen grow lamps can grow a lot of high quality weed in the basement. Usually against the law to have more than ~ five plants, but basically no enforcement.
As far as banking, getting pretty close to having enough votes to change the law in Congress, but expect the Turtle/Trump to drop a turd on it if it made it there. Industry needs more black money.
Aleta
demand action @LVMPD and @ClarkCountyNV
laura
@Aleta: gee, I dont recall the cops putting a choke hold on Jeff Bezos, Travis Kalenek or Elon Musk when they disrupted the retail, taxi or auto industries. Oh yeah, paperbag test….
Roger Moore
@Professor Bigfoot:
And those places are built like fortresses. When you come in, you have to give your ID to a person behind bulletproof glass. Then you sit in a waiting area until they buzz you into the area where the actual sales are. You may have to wait a while, because the number of people in the sales area is strictly limited.
Paul W.
@Barbara: This! And THIS is why I can’t stand the man and remind all of the other voters here with me in NY that he was the one that helped create the IDC and most frequently uses his power to stop things or get carve outs than he does to create anything purely because it is good policy.
Professor Bigfoot
@Roger Moore: Yep. There was an armed guard in the waiting area, too– he and I had a great laugh (he was in his 50s or so) with the phrase, “Never underestimate an old man with a 1911.”
I was lucky, I guess, there was no waiting in my one visit– but yeah, *a fortress.* At the time I didn’t think about the fact that it’s ALL CASH, and therefore would be a sweet score for robbers…
Jay
Roger Moore
@Paul W.:
I get the impression that what Cuomo wants most is to be a power broker. He wants to be the guy who’s at the center of all the deals, and he’ll ruin a perfectly good piece of legislation because the authors had the temerity to negotiate it within the legislature without kissing his ring. He wants to be in the room where it happens.
Wapiti
@Mart: This talk of taxes reminds me how WA transitioned at the end of prohibition. The guy in charge set the taxes on legal liquor low, and continued the enforcement of laws against illegal rum runners/speakeasies. Also, getting busted selling illegal liquor would get you permanently blacklisted for a future liquor licence.
The low taxes were in place for 3 or 5 years. This and vigorous enforcement of unlicensed liquor destroyed the black market supply network. *Then* the taxes went up.
For marijuana, WA state has gone about this completely back-assward, starting with high taxes and low enforcement of illegal pot.
ruemara
@Roger Moore: Kinda funny. Because although my local shop has a lot of guards – armed – we can have lines out the door & down the block for sales and it feels like a donut shop that sells drugs. One thing I like about my mellow small town. Seattle was almost the same. Can’t speak for LA. I try to get to mine when there’s sales on gummies that are relaxants because it’s the one thing that helps with anxiety besides my clonidine & also gives me a real deep sleep.
snoey
@Brachiator: The other banking problem is that they can’t give loans to startups. Here in Mass we’re trying to give priority to minority communities etc. when it comes to giving out store licenses but that doesn’t matter when it takes at least a milllion cash to open up.
Jay
Roger Moore
@Wapiti:
California has been messing up legal pot pretty badly, too. Cities have a lot of control over when/where/how/if pot can be sold there, and the vast majority have decided against it. At the same time, even places that didn’t legally permit medical dispensaries looked the other way when they set up shop, so there is an established distribution system. As recreational pot became legal, a lot of those illegal but tolerated dispensaries just stopped checking people for their medical pot cards and started selling to everyone. The net result is that there are a ton of illegal pot shops, and the legal ones have trouble competing if they’re actually going to pay taxes as they’re supposed to.
Searcher
I’d like to think that Cuomo has learned his limits, but I also suspect that between Gillibrand and DeBlasio there weren’t enough big NY donors left to make it worth while.
Harbison
@rikyrah:
At least part of it: some dispensaries and delivery services are accepting credit cards now, which means that at least part of banking system is open to them.
I don’t follow this area of the law closely so I don’t know if this is some exploited loophole that the feds can close or not.
Harbison
I should have mentioned- I’m referring to CA – Bay Area
Just order via app with your credit card, driver pulls up, checks your ID and hands you a bag with your goodies.
Keith P.
@Mart: A dozen grow lights in the basement? Lol…more like half that. Power and space issues.
Brachiator
@snoey:
Great point. Yep, the loan issue is a huge problem.
zzyzx
I’m not a smoker but I don’t see how WA messed up pot. There are tons of stores everywhere and even I know that the prices are insanely low (e.g. $60 ounces during sales).
Also most of the stores feel like actual retail once you get past the ID check. Less of a fortress feel. I’m not sure how they prevent robberies.
Some stores do a weird bitcoin thing to allow credit card; your card buys you .003 BC or something and then that immediately goes to the store.
Yutsano
@Brachiator:
We have several dispensaries in our area. They have to drive to Seattle in order to do their payroll taxes.
Why?
Because it has the only IRS office IN THE STATE that has enough people to take cash.
There are some weird rules around how the IRS handles cash payments and then what the person who actually handles the cash can and cannot do, but the bottom line is this is KILLER for the legal dispensaries. And the state is trying to find a way around the federal banking rules.
germy
chatelaine.com/health/jen-gunter-profile/
laura
Alan Dershowitz is a shite-bag monster part the nth+1.
Actually arguing to lower the age of consent so adult males who are important can rape young girls without the law hassling them.
He makes me think bad thoughts about what I’d like done to him. Bad, bad thoughts.
A Ghost To Most
@zzyzx: Can you grow your own? My understanding is WA fucked that up.
A Ghost To Most
@Keith P.:
I supply my self with right about 1000 watts total ( all electric use in my grow room). We are limited to 3 plants in bloom, 12 total. It works.
Eolirin
As much as I dislike Cuomo, placing all the blame on him for this is extremely misleading. There are more than a few democratic legislators that are against full legalization in the NYS senate, and while the funding issue cleaved off some progressive votes it was not my understanding that it cleaved off enough votes by itself to prevent the bill from passing. There are multiple blocs of legislators with different priorities here, some of whom are outright opposed to legalization, and they failed to cobble together a majority before, I believe, a recess deadline.
This was a fallback position that enough people could agree on that includes expunging criminal records for low level pot arrests. It’s an important step toward redressing and minimizing the harm being caused by the criminalization of cannibis, and those of us living here should view it as a win. Efforts to legalize will continue to be ongoing. But this happening now is better than nothing happening now, even as that debate continues.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: I keep wondering whether establishing a state-run bank, like South Dakota’s (or is it North Dakota?), would be a way to do an end-run around the feds, but I don’t know enough about the issues involved, honestly.
E
Is Cuomo really that bad? I mean here in New York we have a $15 minimum wage, universal Pre-k, All CUNY and SUNY colleges are now tuition free for any family making up to 125k per year, he’s passed a number of great gun control measures, and brought marriage equality to NY well before the Supreme Court. It seems that he and De Blasio universally get shit on by everyone but I just don’t how they are that bad.
Anonymous
I have been informed that in NYC, if one knows a phone number, one may have a delivery made to one’s door of requested bud or other forms of THC delivery material. If you know a phone number!
There’s always a pesky detail like that~! Colorado is pretty sweet as far as their legalization work. When we visited friend out there, I was interested to see a full page ad in the local newspaper for the local distributor shop’s weekly sale, and along highways many of the “This stretch of road is maintained by Blue Sky Dispensary, Pueblo” So very normalized.
WE stuck to edibles, so as to not have to find places to smoke. Plus we like them anyway. It was great, two tasty chocolate truffle candies, grin and giggle a little bit, sleep well. When we flew home we did the last three each just as we arrived at the airport, and had perhaps the best airline flight ever, all the way home. Smooooth and friendly. Relaxing, even…