The Broadway store in New York’s Manhattan borough is operated by the non-profit Housing Works. It has the first of 36 retail licenses granted in New York State to date.
The organization works primarily with homeless people, ex-convicts and AIDS patients. The profits from the sale should flow back into this business.
Legalized in March 2021
New York’s legislature paved the way for legally available cannabis in March 2021 after a long dispute and gave some groups priority in licensing. This is how the sale of fair and structural racism must be fought. According to the civil rights organization ACLU in 2019, black New Yorkers were 4.5 times more likely than whites to be arrested in connection with cannabis, despite the same use.
New York City Mayor Adams said it was “a new chapter for all those who have been most harmed by past failed policies.” At the same time, unlicensed resellers are increasingly being phased out. When the law was passed last year a legal gray area emerged and unregulated sales soared within months.
This message was broadcast on Deutschlandfunk on December 30, 2022.
