For more than a year, it has been legal for an adult over the age of 21 to consume cannabis in New York State. This Thursday, the first business approved by the authorities was opened.
Since Thursday it has been perfectly legal to buy cannabis in the official shops of the State of New York: the very first activity authorized by the authorities has been opened in the heart of Manhattan.
More than 100 people flocked to the trendy boutique premises of Housing Works, a non-profit organization, the first to open under license from New York State, out of 36 permits issued since Nov. 21.
“The first sale of legal cannabis for adults represents a historic milestone for the cannabis industry in New York,” said Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul of the US fourth state.
The leader said in a statement, “Today is just the beginning and I look forward to continuing our efforts to make (State of) New York a national model for safety, equity, and more people, that we are building”.
Goal of reintegration
Behind this first official shop is the Housing Works association, which helps HIV-positive people, ex-convicts and the homeless. Because the immense state of New York, whose territory extends to Canada and the Great Lakes, wants to grant the first 150 licenses to traders convicted in the past for possessing or selling cannabis.
The goal: to repair what it now sees as the unjust and disproportionate impact of decades of prohibition of “marijuana,” the criminalization of which it believes has particularly affected African-American and Hispanic communities.
In the shop, during a press presentation, local New York State Senator Liz Krueger, who led the project to legalize this trade, said she was “honored to participate in the launch of adult cannabis retail”.
Even the fiery mayor of the New York megalopolis Eric Adams, a former police officer, acknowledged in a press release that “the legal cannabis market could be a boon to New York’s economic recovery (…) as the tax revenue “.
City is counting on $1.3 billion in sales from 2023 and 19,000 to 24,000 jobs created in three years.
Original article published on BFMTV.com
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