Marijuana Justice

On a recent NYCLU lobby day, I had the privilege of speaking with several members of the NY legislature including my own representatives in both the State Senate and Assembly. I know that there is a lot of feeling in the legislature that it is time to stop criminalizing generations of minorities for sales of marijuana.

There are perfectly appropriate ways to regulate sales without condemning and criminalizing people for sales that are purely harmless. There is a market for perfectly decent uses of marijuana. It is absolutely appropriate that this be done in a way that takes account of racial justice and provides pathways for people in the minority communities to participate instead of saying marijuana is good now and then excluding the minority community from the benefits. The history of regulation of marijuana has been a history of discrimination. It’s time to undo as much of that as possible.

Let me suggest typing “smart-ny.com/act” into your computer. Of course search engines are masters at taking precise requests and giving you a list of choices that don’t include what you asked for. I tried many formulas and this one worked. Make sure you get Start Smart New York but don’t type that – type “smart-ny.com/act” or the search engines will fight you – that of course is another battle.

And when you get smart-ny.com/act, you might take a look at their suggestions and consider calling your representatives. I don’t know how many of you have done that, but it should not surprise you that your representatives are happy to hear from you. They want to know what you think. Give them that pleasure.