Sorry, But New York Probably Won't Legalize Marijuana This Year

By Brendan Bures

New Yorkers love to joke about its little brother New Jersey, ribbing any and all of that state’s shortcomings, but the pair are two peas on a pod when it comes to marijuana reform. Just as New Jersey did before, New York poised itself as the next state to legalize recreational marijuana but lacks enough support from lawmakers to do so.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo confessed this week that he doesn’t have the votes in the State Senate to push legalization forward. Cuomo previously had promised adult-use marijuana legislation for New Yorkers in 2019, but as the state’s legislative session comes to end, the governor says it probably won’t happen this year.

“I don’t think it’s feasible at this point. I don’t think it matters how much I push in 11 days. I think when the Senate says we don’t have the votes, I take them at the word,” Cuomo said.

Forecasts had predicted 2019 as the best year for cannabis form, in part because New York and New Jersey were supposedly locks to legalize recreational marijuana. Cuomo, as well as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, had campaigned on pushing through marijuana legalization in the state. But doing so without the impetus of voter initiatives have proven meddlesome to New Jersey and New York.

“It’s hard to do it legislatively, I admit,” Murphy said.

But it’s difficult to absolve either Murphy or Cuomo in light of Illinois’ recent actions to do what those states could not—legalize possession and the commercial sale of cannabis through the legislature. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker campaigned on similar marijuana legalization promises as Cuomo and Murphy, except he got the job done. So as Illinois becomes the 11th state to legalize adult-use marijuana, New Yorkers—and Jersey folk—will have to wait a little longer.

This article was originally posted on The Fresh Toast.

Photo by Mike C. Valdivia via Unsplash

Related Stories:

NBA Commissioner On Basketball Players Using Marijuana: 'It's A Complicated Issue'

Las Vegas May Have To Wait For Cannabis Lounges After All

The preceding article is from one of our external contributors. It does not represent the opinion of Benzinga and has not been edited.

Benzinga editor note:

A February article by Jeff Siegel looked into 8 Stocks That Could Benefit From Marijuana Legalization In New York.

Some of the publicly traded cannabis companies that have exposure in New York include:

• Acreage Holdings ACRGF: Vertically integrated to operate four dispensaries and a 70,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facility in New York.
• Curaleaf Holdings CURLF: Operates a cultivation facility and five dispensaries in New York.
• Green Thumb Industries GTBIF: Operates a cultivation center and has four retail locations under the RISE brand coming into New York.
• Innovative Industrial Properties IIPR: Leases two specialized industrial and greenhouse buildings in New York.
• iAnthus Capital Holdings ITHUF: Operates one cultivation facility and two dispensaries in New York, with two more opening this year.
• MedMen Enterprises MMNFF: Operates four dispensaries in New York.

Other companies that could gain access to the New York market in 2019 include:

• MariMed MRMD: MariMed is looking to expand into New York and already has operations in surrounding states.
• Harvest Health and Recreation HTHHF: Harvest Health and Recreation is actively expanding to the East Coast and could set up shop in New York.