Facing massive budget woes and legalization in neighboring New Jersey, politicians in New York are set to take another crack at legalizing a recreational marijuana market that could generate more than $2 billion in sales – and this time, the odds look better. Gov. Andrew Cuomo renewed the pledge last week to legalize recreational marijuana amid growing financial and regional pressures to do so. Efforts in recent years have failed – a 2020 bid was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. “We will legalize adult-use recreational cannabis, joining 15 states that have already done so,” Cuomo tweeted Monday. “This will raise revenue and end the failed prohibition of this product that has left so many communities of color over-policed and over-incarcerated.” Marijuana Business Daily projects that a New York adult-use market eventually would become the largest on the East Coast, generating $2.3 billion in annual sales by its fourth year. Legalization in New York would create tens of thousands of new jobs and also would provide huge opportunities for ancillary companies, such as cultivation- and processing-equipment makers, packaging companies, attorneys, and marketing.
Marijuana Business Daily, 01/13/2021 11:00:00