Cannabis herb (illustration). – Twitter
In France, the Minister of the Interior has made hunting firecracker smokers a priority. But on the other side of the Atlantic, parliamentarians from the State of New York agreed on the night of Saturday to Sunday with the governor on a bill allowing the legalization of the recreational use of cannabis. With a strong Democratic majority in the state parliament, the bill has a good chance of passage, and New York is expected to join 15 other US states as well as the federal capital Washington, which already allow recreational use of cannabis. .
According to Governor Andrew Cuomo, legalization would generate $ 350 million in taxes annually and create tens of thousands of jobs. The bill would allow adults 21 years of age and over to purchase cannabis, and to grow it in their homes for personal consumption. Part of the sums recovered through taxes will be reinvested in educational initiatives and the treatment of addictions.
“A matter of justice”
“Legalizing cannabis use among adults is not only a matter of creating a new market that will create jobs and benefit the economy, it is also a matter of justice for people who have been marginalized for a long time. and that is to ensure that those who have been unfairly penalized in the past now get a chance to benefit (from legalization), ”said Andrew Cuomo.
If adopted, the law would enter into force immediately but sales could not begin for two years, said a parliamentarian on Friday, pending the creation of legal structures. Supporters of the new law say it is a first step in addressing decades of injustice that have plagued poor and minority people, disproportionately targeted by decades of heavily restrictive drug use legislation. .
Purge of criminal records
Once the text comes into force, New York will automatically purge the criminal records of people who have previously been convicted of offenses that would no longer be illegal under the new law. The new personal possession limit would be set at just over 85 grams.