Governor Andrew Cuomo in his state of the state called for New York to legalize cannabis in 2020. In other words, it’s been like 2019 all over again in New York this week.

“For decades, communities of color were disproportionately affected by the unequal enforcement of marijuana laws. Let’s legalize adult use of marijuana,” the New York Times quoted Gov. Cuomo as saying. If this quote sounds familiar to devotees of the MMLG Blog (#ComplianceNation stand UP!) it should. Cuomo practically quoted himself verbatim from late 2018 wherein, according to your faithful intern’s blog post,  Cuomo stated: “Cannabis arrests have too long targeted the African-American and minority communities. Let’s legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all.”

No argument here, our redundant gubernatorial buddy!

But intern of interns, you may be wondering at this point, will New York ACTUALLY legalize in 2020? Let’s take a minute to pontificate on that squirrelly topic, gang.

New York legalizes cannabis because…

• NEW JERSEY: As we’ve noted before, New York state’s biggest reason for legalizing boils down to New Jersey. Cuomo and every elected official in the state of New York, but especially the tri-state region, should be repulsed by the prospect of New Yorkers crossing the Hudson to buy legal cannabis in New Jersey. The loss in tax revenue, to say nothing of the compliance and legal quagmire that would ensue, is a bureaucrat’s worst nightmare writ large.

  With the Garden State taking its legislature out of the equation and leaving legalization up to the ballot box in November, New York has time to get things done, but not too much time if you catch our drift.

• Cuomo’s plan kinda makes sense: Cuomo is a pragmatic politician and, unlike some fat cats in Washington and despite the jokes, Cuomo expects results. His 2019 plan for legalization while by no means lacking ambition, was missing a certain toothy je ne sais quoi. This plan? We’re hopefully impressed by the prospect of a (potentially) SUNY-backed research program studying cannabis for education, health, etc.

  Plus, cannabis, as we’ve seen, is an economic driver. Upstate New York needs jobs, people are leaving New York City for the first time in years because it’s gotten so intolerably noisy and expensive. New cannabis jobs, say in cultivation and manufacturing of cannabis and hemp, a la Canopy’s Binghamton campus, could alleviate the jobs problem. New York City will likely remain intolerably noisy and expensive. Can’t win ’em all.

New York won’t legalize because…

• NEW JERSEY: Something falls apart in New Jersey’s plan to legalize via ballot measure. We’re confident in the Garden State’s will to legalize but, well, we all know how well things went last time. [We’re just glad Murphy and Sweeney are out of the equation in NJ. –Ed.] But seriously, there aren’t that many conservative or NIMBY voters in New Jersey that this could fail, right? Right?!

  With not a trace of external pressure from New York’s most populous neighbor, New York kicks the cannabis can down the road for another year. Gross.

• Money: We’re not just talking about the funding bucks for a new cannabis research program at SUNY, either. Money, in addition to the significant social equity hurdles New York couldn’t address in 2019, was a major reason that cannabis was not legalized last year. State and municipal lawmakers couldn’t agree on who got what and how much. Guys, it’s not complicated, all of you will be getting more cannabis tax revenues than y’all are now, which is ZERO dollars in cannabis tax revenue.

Stay tuned for now. But if you have a burning question, for some reason, about New York licensing or compliance, contact MMLG.