In a recent speech, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, outlining the agenda for his upcoming third term, declared his intention to fully legalize cannabis in the state—as ten other states and Washington, D.C., have already done—possibly as soon as early 2019. Echoing Cynthia Nixon, his opponent in September’s Democratic primary, Cuomo suggested that the laws against marijuana use have disproportionately affected African-Americans and other minority groups. “Let’s legalize the adult use of recreational marijuana once and for all,” he said. He did not say whether a change in those laws would affect the status of those already serving time for marijuana-related offenses, or make any comment about how the tax revenue generated by legal marijuana—likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a report published by New York’s Department of Health, in July—might be used.
Last week, I spoke with a college graduate in his late twenties who makes his living selling cannabis in New York, where he moved, from the Midwest, several years ago. He referred to himself as a “care provider,” and asked that I not disclose his real name. He worked in finance and freelance Web design and marketing before shifting to his current career, he said. He sells marijuana in varying amounts, from an eighth of an ounce to a full pound or more, and also sells vaporizer cartridges, infused drinks, cannabis edibles, and psychedelic mushrooms. He makes a comfortable income, he said, and now has a few employees, who provide door-to-door service to around two hundred customers, primarily in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He told me that he also networks at underground cannabis events in New York, which he described as similar to farmers’ markets, “but for pot.”
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