If successful, advocates of the state’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) — which forms the regulatory ecosystem for the production and sale of cannabis, creates a new adult-use cannabis program and could provide 30,000-60,000 jobs citywide — believe it can systematically benefit the Black and brown communities most affected by its criminalization. One of the boroughs most impacted by cannabis enforcement through disproportionate over-policing and over-sentencing of cannabis-related crimes is the Bronx, cannabis advocates and studies say. MRTA, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in March follows years of stop-start legislative efforts. Meanwhile, over the past decade, Bronx communities have been ravaged by the criminalization of marijuana. According to a decade-long study of marijuana arrests by NYC police precincts, the Bronx’s 46th, 41st, 52nd, and 44th precincts accounted for some of the city’s highest marijuana arrest rates over the last 10 years.
Mmp News Author, Medical Marijuana Program Connection, 08/28/2021 12:08:00