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New York may not be the first US state to legalize cannabis, and thus marijuana, but it is one of the most populous. The controversial path is now being taken primarily to combat racism.
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After years of wrangling, the New York state legislature has cleared the way for legalizing marijuana. The lower house in Albany passed a corresponding bill by a vote of 100 to 49 on Tuesday evening (local time). Hours earlier, the Senate had also approved by a vote of 40 to 23. Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has yet to sign the law, described it as “pointing the way” after it was passed.
The measure creates jobs and, above all, corrects “the wrongs of decades of law that have been directed disproportionately against non-whites,” wrote House Speaker Carl E. Heastie on Twitter. The main reason for legalization is the fight against structural racism: the current cannabis legislation in New York discriminated against non-whites. Although use is roughly evenly distributed, blacks are many times more likely to be arrested for marijuana-related crimes.
In Germany, the BVerfG must decide
After Cuomo signed the law, New York with its almost 20 million inhabitants – and the metropolis of the same name – will become the 15th US state to allow marijuana for free use. According to estimates, this could create a billion-dollar market in the coming years, generating 350 million dollars a year in additional tax revenue.
In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) will have to rule on a judge’s bill on the handling of cannabis in Germany if it deems the bill admissible. Here, too, the current cannabis ban is controversial. Among others, the juvenile judge Andreas Müller, who also submitted the judge’s submission to the BVerfG, calls for the decriminalization of cannabis consumers.
dpa/pdi/LTO editorial team
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