NEW YORK — On Tuesday, June 18, at 10:30AM at Governor Hochul’s Manhattan Office, advocates and people directly impacted by the War on Drugs will rally to protect the expansive wins secured by the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), the most progressive marijuana legalization program in the country, passed in 2021.
WHAT: The MRTA’s vision of a just and equitable cannabis industry is being undermined by a coordinated campaign financed by well-funded lobbyists and large corporations – fueled by large Multi-State Operators and other powerful groups who see New York’s legal cannabis market as a lucrative opportunity for domination.
WHO
- Kassandra Frederique, Drug Policy Alliance
- Eli Northrup, The Bronx Cannabis Hub, The Bronx Defenders
- Jacobi Holland, On the Revel
- Jorge Vasquez
WHEN
Tuesday, June 18, 2024
10:30AM
WHERE
633 3rd Ave (Between 40th & 41st streets)
Manhattan, NY, 10016
BACKGROUND
The Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) established a pioneering framework for a fair and diverse cannabis industry in NY. This includes a licensing program prioritizing those directly impacted by past cannabis criminalization, family farmers, and small businesses.
The MRTA also expunged the arrest records of over 400,000 New Yorkers for low-level, racially enforced arrests. The tax revenue from the legal market goes to improving New York: 40% goes to public schools, 20% to drug treatment and prevention, and 40% is reinvested into communities that were disproportionately impacted by discriminatory arrests. And the process for legal adult-use licensing prioritizes small businesses, family farmers and people directly impacted by past criminalization over the multi-billion dollar corporate marijuana industry that lobbied hard to to control New York’s marijuana program before it began.
Since its inception, the MRTA has broken national records and implementation of New York’s cannabis market looks intentionally different than other states:
- 95% of New York’s cannabis retail market is made up of small businesses.
- In the first 15 months of legal sales, New York alone has nearly tripled the number of Black-owned retail dispensaries nationwide.
- Licensees are participating in a rapidly expanding market that moves well over $10 million in legal cannabis products per week and is on track to hit $1 billion this year.
- New York has opened more adult-use cannabis retailers than any other legal market on the East Coast, other than Massachusetts.
