ELIZABETHTOWN | Ongoing policy review of legalizing marijuana use in New York drew a thumbs down Monday in Essex County.
Supervisors on the Public Safety Committee unanimously accepted a Essex County Sheriff’s Office resolution opposing any measure to legalize regulated pot use.
The resolution was presented by county Sheriff Richard Cutting with data he drew from several sources, including a recent New York State Sheriff’s Association summer conference in Buffalo.
“I feel it’s a big mistake,” Cutting said. “The positives are just not there.”
Cutting said sheriff personnel at the conference and the Sheriffs’ Association oppose making recreational marijuana use legal in New York.
Cutting shared his remarks via a letter, which he also sent to state lawmakers.
In it he recounts remarks from Lt. David Pearson, Acting Assistant Chief of Fort Collins, Colorado, who discussed repercussions of legalized pot in an address “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.”
‘SO MANY NEGATIVES’
Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month ordered a series of “listening sessions” around the state to garner input from stakeholders on the legalization of recreational marijuana.
A study released by the state Department of Health in July found the positive impacts of a regulated marijuana market outweigh the negative, and that areas of potential concern may be mitigated with regulation and education tailored to key populations.
On the good side, Cutting relayed to supervisors, tax money from marijuana sale helped education, but less than half of one percent of school budgets were derived from this revenue.
But he said the negatives and “damage caused will far outweigh the alleged windfall in tax revenue that is being purported as a main reason for this bill.”
Cutting detailed numerous negatives associated with legalizing pot, including an “influx of homeless, resulting in homeless camps, drain on social services, police services, ER visits, trash, refuse, bodily waste and drug paraphernalia in camps, mentally ill and drug dependencies in this population, jail populations rise stretching already overstressed services to provide for specialized treatment for addiction, health and mental health issues.”
Marijuana grow houses present public health concerns, Cutting said, including toxic mold that requires full HazMat gear to enter premises where pot is grown.
Financially, Cutting said, the business doesn’t use banks.
“This is a cash business,” he wrote. “Banks will not process credit or debit cards for sales (still illegal federally) making it almost impossible to track actual sales for tax purposes (significant sales go ‘out the back door’ and are unreported).”
In addition, Cutting told supervisors, large marijuana fields on public lands by illegal growers have booby traps for protection.
And, he said, the “black market will still exist as growers will lower prices below government taxed rates.”
REVENUES IN FOCUS
The sheriff also included a packet of reference material with an entire 2016 research paper “Lessons Learned after 4 Years of Marijuana Legalization,” related to data in Colorado and Washington states.
The research, completed by Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), points to legal pot use impact on public health and safety, such as rising rates of pot use by minors; higher rates of traffic deaths from driving while high; and more marijuana-related poisonings and hospitalizations.
Findings in the 2016 SAM analysis suggest: “Pot tax revenue comprises a tiny fraction of the Colorado state budget — less than one percent — and after costs of enforcement are subtracted, the remaining revenue is very limited.”
Denver schools, SAM said, “have not seen a single dollar of new funding from state pot taxes.”
In Washington, the SAM analysis found, “half of the marijuana tax money ... promised for prevention and schools has been siphoned off into the state’s general fund.”
The Public Safety Committee, chaired by Minerva Supervisor Stephen McNally, unanimously supported the sheriff’s position.
The discussion will move to Essex County Ways & Means Committee later in September.
LEGAL POT USE UP FOR DISCUSSION STATEWIDE
Essex County’s stance against legalizing recreational pot use in New York comes as policymakers review options to present for legislative action in January.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo established a Regulated Marijuana Workgroup in August to assess public interest, causes and concerns of legalizing pot.
The workgroup is tasked with developing potential language for such law.
Cuomo’s working team involves personnel from law enforcement agencies (including State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II), state agency leaders (including from the departments of Agriculture and Markets and Transportation), along with many public health and science professionals.
The state already found cost benefits exist in regulated pot markets.
The workgroup was formed in response to a multi-agency state review released in July that found “positive impacts of a regulated marijuana market in New York State outweigh the potential negative impacts.”
Cause for concern, it said, could be “mitigated with regulation and proper use of public education tailored to address key populations.”
The report was coordinated by the state Department of Health and indicated tax revenue in a regulated marijuana market could generate between $248.1 million in state tax revenue (at a 7 percent state tax rate) to $677.7 million (at a 15 percent tax rate.)
Revenue, it suggests, would come from an estimated 1,290,000 recreational pot users in the first year.
The DOH report points out that New York’s neighboring states Vermont and Massachusetts have legalized recreational use of marijuana. New Jersey is considering options for similar laws now.
And Canada legalized recreational pot use.
New York’s DOH analysis estimates the state’s current illegal pot market encompasses somewhere between $1.7 billion and $3.5 billion.
The workgroup is tasked with gathering public comment and feedback from municipalities in response to the DOH findings.
The workgroup will be tasked with engaging with the leadership of both the state Senate and the state Assembly, as well as bill sponsors of medical and regulated marijuana legislation, said the governor’s office.
“The multi-agency report identified the benefits of a regulated marijuana market, and with these listening sessions we are taking another important step to develop a model program for New York,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We look forward to hearing what New Yorkers in every corner of the state have to say.”
FIND OUT MORE
Regulated Marijuana Workgroup listening sessions are happening throughout the state now.
The next North Country meeting will be held in Watertown on Oct. 11.
The complete list of meetings is online here:
www.ny.gov/regulated-marijuana/regulated-marijuana-listening-sessions
Online comments can also be submitted by residents:
www.ny.gov/programs/assessing-regulated-marijuana-new-york
The complete Department of Health Regulated Marijuana report is here:
www.health.ny.gov/regulations/regulated_marijuana/docs/marijuana_legalization_impact_assessment.pdf
WHO’S ON THE REGULATED MARIJUANA WORKGROUP
Personnel and experts participating in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regulated Marijuana Workgroup listening sessions include:
David Holtgrave, PhD, Dean, School of Public Health, University at Albany
R. Lorraine Collins, PhD, Associate Dean for Research, University at Buffalo
Jeff Reynolds, PhD, CEO, Family and Children’s Association of Long Island
Brendan Cox, former Albany Police Chief
Angela H. Hawken, PhD, Professor of Public Policy, NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management
Natasha Schüll, PhD, Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication, NYU Steinhardt
Tracie Gardner, Associate Director at the Legal Action Center
Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, MS, Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Counsel to the Governor Alphonso David
Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker
Budget Director Robert Mujica
Chief Diversity Officer for New York State Lourdes Zapata
Office of Mental Health Commissioner Dr. Ann Sullivan
Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services Commissioner Arlene González-Sánchez
Office of Children and Family Services Acting Commissioner Sheila Poole
Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Paul Karas
New York State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II
Acting Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Nonie Manion
New York State Agriculture & Markets Commissioner Richard A. Ball
Empire State Development Corporation Commissioner Howard Zemsky
