NY Weed Hurdles: Mom Sues Child Services For Taking Her Baby Over Legal Pot Use, CANY Ousts Disabled Veteran

A cannabis activist and member of the Cannabis Association of New York State (CANY) was forced out of the industry trade group, reported New York Post.

Carmine Fiore, former chair of the organization's Veterans Committee and a disabled Army veteran himself says he was banished for criticizing Gov. Kathy Hochul's administration. He recently spoke out against the rollout of NY's recreational cannabis market, stressing that the Cannabis Control Board (CCC) has prioritized people convicted of drug felonies over disabled veterans.  

"The whole veterans' community is in an uproar," Fiore said in April after the CCC awarded 99 conditional dispensary licenses, some to people with previous cannabis convictions. "Only criminal applicants have been allowed to apply," he said.

The NY cannabis regulatory body advanced the so-called Seeding Opportunity Initiative in July by approving the final regulations for Conditional Adult-use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses. The initiative sought for the state's first legal adult-use cannabis shops to be operated by individuals who were most impacted by the enforcement of cannabis prohibition and those who have strong business backgrounds.

Even though Fiore enjoyed support from lawmakers such as state Sen. George Borrello (R-Jamestown), who said "giving ex-cons a license to sell pot, along with a free dispensary courtesy of the taxpayers, shows their deranged priorities and their continued failure to roll out a legal market in New York," CANY parted ways with Fiore who called it retaliation for complaining about the lack of cannabis licenses given to veterans. 

A Mother Is Suing Child Welfare Service For Taking Her Baby 

Speaking of retaliation, the mother of a baby who was placed in foster care within days after giving birth for testing positive for marijuana is suing the Administration of Children's Services (ACS), reported The New York Times.

Chanetto Rivers said that testing herself and her third child in August 2021 was conducted without her consent. After a week following the baby's birth, during which multiple trips to court and a judge's order took place, Rivers finally gained custody of her son.

The ACS is being sued in Manhattan federal court by Rivers' lawyers at the Bronx Defenders who argue that the agency was persistent in pursuing her to attend parenting and anger management classes and take drug tests in months following the incident "not because ACS was trying to protect [the baby] T.W." but "because Ms. Rivers is Black."

New York's legal framework prohibits child removal solely based on parental marijuana use. ACS policy stipulates that having marijuana in an infant's system does not warrant removal without evidence that the baby might be impaired, for which the agency did not provide proof, the lawyers said.

Photo: Benzinga edit of image by Shutterstock