The New York Times has an interesting story today on canna-revenue being used to fund modernization and repairs to the MTA subway system. MMLG’s blogger –spoiler: a New Yorker!– applauds this ambitious plan. The time may be ripe for a bold infrastructure plan. While New York’s Governor Cuomo has attempted at various points to work with the current administration on getting the massive Penn Station and NJ Transit repairs online, and the negotiations have amounted to nil so far. Meanwhile, the MTA, New York City’s subway system, has been paralyzed with extensive delays and construction projects that amount to nothing more than bare upkeep.
As MMLG has been emphasizing for the majority of 2018, New York must act rapidly with plans to legalize or risk falling behind not only its neighbors in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, but increasingly states such as Michigan, Missouri and Illinois. With New Jersey taking a major step towards legalization last week; combining these two initiatives, that many New York residents would applaud, only makes sense.
New York Legalizing Cannabis Benefits Entire Empire State
While much of the hype surrounding New York legalization is centered on New York City. The entire state of New York would benefit from legalization. Rural communities upstate would benefit from employment opportunities in growing, harvesting, and more. Likewise, manufacturing hubs would potentially benefit from production and rendering facilities being opened up. Additionally, as we just discussed with regards to Canada, many, many ancillary roles are emerging in the plant-touching business. Accounting and operations, marketing, blogging, are all potential jobs in any new cannabis market.
New York State Would Reap Benefits Beyond Infrastructural Funding
It’s convenient to assume that cannabis revenue would “magically” repair all of the infrastructural issues in New York, but at the same time, that tax revenue could, if used properly, be very beneficial. Not only could revenue go towards repairing NYC’s subway system, New York state’s roads and highways could benefit from additional funding. Alternatively, New York legislatures could earmark revenue to go towards VA funds like other states have done.
Beyond the inherent benefit of tax revenue, to beat a dead horse, but cannabis would lead to jobs being created. Additional income tax, in addition to more cash in households, benefits the entire state. Furthermore, placed in the non-fiscal “pros” column, is the benefit that New York’s already begun to embrace with passage earlier this year of a bill allowing cannabis products as a substitute for opiod painkillers.
Cannabis won’t be a silver bullet by any means, but it certainly provides numerous benefits and opportunities for New York state in a region that’s practically begging for the next cannabis domino to fall.