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Concerns Grow Over Legalizing Pot

Legalized marijuana is likely a fait accompli in New York state, though there is still a wide gulf between the approaches backed by the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

It is in that vein that something Dr. Kevin Sabet, Smart Approaches to Marijuana president and CEO, said during joint legislative budget hearing testimony was interesting and worthy of thought as the debate over marijuana legalization continues.

After Sen. Liz Krueger, D-New York City, said New York state is already the biggest marijuana market in the country, Sabet said that fact is what worries him when it comes to legalizing the drug. In Sabet’s view, the existing illegal market for marijuana could grow when a legal market is added to the mix. Sabet estimated 7% of state residents currently use marijuana, but worried that legalizing marijuana isn’t just a 1-to-1 shift from an illegal market to a legal market. His logic is that the state could end up with three markets and a lot more users than the state currently has because legalization would not eliminate the illegal marijuana market. In fact, Sabet said other states’ history shows it is likely there will still be an illegal marijuana market, a legal marijuana market and what he calls a gray marijuana market where marijuana is bought legally and sold illegally in the same manner cigarettes and alcohol are purchased legally and then used illegally by minors. Those markets will compete for new users — leading to more people using marijuana.

Sabet’s thinking is interesting when one considers the thoughts of Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston, who said he wants to avoid legal marijuana being used as a revenue-producing crutch like the state lottery, which Cahill likens to being a tax on stupidity. We aren’t taking a firm position on legalization until there is a firm proposal between the legislature and the governor, but we do think the matter should be discussed outside the confines of the state budget. There are issues that need to be discussed publicly, and the state budget is not the time for such a debate.

Even during last week’s legislative budget hearing, the discussion quickly turned from dollars and cents — which is the budget hearing’s sole purpose — to the merits of legalization. Marijuana legalization isn’t going to make or break the state budget whether it’s approved or not, so we urge state legislators to make an informed decision rather than a decision rushed by the hurried nature of the state budget.

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