As of Thursday it is perfectly legal to buy cannabis in the official stores of the state of New York: the first business approved by the authorities has opened in the heart of Manhattan.
More than 100 people packed into the fashion boutique-style facility of Housing Works, a nonprofit organization, the first to open under a New York state license of 36 licenses issued since Nov. 21.
“The first sale of legal cannabis for adults represents a historic milestone for the cannabis industry in New York,” said Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul of the United States’ fourth state.
The leader said in a statement: “Today is just the beginning and I look forward to continuing our efforts to make (the State of) New York a national model for the safest, most equitable sector, which we are in the process of building”.
reintegration goal
Behind this first official store is the Housing Works association, which helps HIV-positive people, ex-prisoners and the homeless. Because the huge state of New York, whose territory stretches to Canada and the Great Lakes, wants to grant the first 150 licenses to dealers convicted in the past for possession or sale of cannabis.
The goal: to repair what he now sees as the unfair and disproportionate impact of decades of prohibition on “marijuana,” the criminalization of which he believes has particularly targeted the African-American and Hispanic communities.
At the store, during a presentation to the press, local New York State Senator Liz Krueger, who led the bill to legalize this trade, said she was “honored to attend the launch of adult cannabis retail.” .
Even the fiery mayor of the New York megalopolis Eric Adams, a former police officer, acknowledged in a press release that “the legal cannabis market could be a real help for the economic recovery of New York (…) due to the increase in tax revenues “. “.
The city council has 1,300 million dollars in sales as of 2023 and between 19,000 and 24,000 job creations in three years.
Source: BFM TV
