New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced, with ferocious verbiage, a big crackdown on illegal cannabis sellers. Upon which the legislature has tightened restrictions. Penalties will be enforced and product seized.
Wait, what? Didn’t New York, a few years ago, with much fanfare, legalize cannabis? Authorizing neighborhood pot stores?
But this is New York, so naturally the roll-out of legal selling is bogged down in suffocating layers of regulatory bureaucracy. While a few isolated stores have been allowed to open, legions of would-be entrepreneurs are screaming that they’re losing their shirts, having made big investments, paying ongoing rents, salaries, etc., for businesses they expected they’d be able to open, but cannot, because the State can’t get its bureaucratic act together.
And now, not only don’t we have the legal pot sellers promised, but we’re getting this crackdown against those filling the gap. This, acknowledged Chris Alexander, head of the state’s dysfunctional marijuana licensing bureaucracy, is “kind of weird.” But, he explained, “This is a different day. And this is a different approach.”
Right. But it gets crazier.
When the legalized pot program was announced, we were told that first in line for the new licenses would be people who’d suffered punishment under the old anti-pot laws. Recompense for what was now acknowledged to have been wrong. Maybe well-intentioned, but many thought it goofy to now give former law-breakers a preference under the new program.
And it makes the current crackdown all the more bizarre. Imposing new pot-related punishments even while proclaiming that old ones were unjust. And raising an obvious question: will those now being punished for violating pot restrictions also go to the head of the line for new pot selling licenses?
The “war on drugs” is a stupendously misguided societal catastrophe, its harms vastly dwarfing any conceivable benefits (arguably there are none). It’s simply insane. New York’s legalizing pot sales was a step in the right direction. Or so it seemed. If only government and politics in this state didn’t have its head up its ass.
Meantime, this whole sorry pot fiasco also reflects New York government’s messed-up mentality about business in general. Almost Maoist, as though earning a profit on anything is sort of criminal. So we’ve got tons of regulation to “protect” the public — consumers, workers, tenants, etc. — making it ever harder for businesses to function. Accompanied by whining about the state’s poor economic climate. And then in response usually ill-conceived “economic development” boondoggles, handing politically connected businesses bloated subsidies and tax abatements often costing out at, like, a million bucks per job (supposedly) created. Epitomized by Governor Hochul’s billion dollar hand-out for a white elephant Buffalo sports stadium.
If only the state would just get out of the way. Of course some regulation of businesses is necessary, to prevent fraud and suchlike. But New York goes way overboard.
And speaking of politically connected businesses —
We’ve had a state campaign finance reform. Aimed at reducing the clout of big money donors upon politicians by boosting the value of small donations. Via state matching funds, up to 12 times the donation amount, if $250 or less. A $250 contribution would engender a whopping $2300 in matching funds. Lessening the importance of fat cat donors.
So far so good. But do you think the New York leopard really changed its spots? In the waning hours of its latest session, our legislature tweaked the law — removing the $250 cap. You read that right. Now big donations would also trigger a gusher of state matching funds. Making them even more powerful than before, in relation to small donors! And this gift to fat cats, further leveraging their influence, will pillage state coffers at taxpayer expense.
Oh — and as if that little tweak weren’t enough, they also made it harder for small-time candidates to qualify for the matching funds.
Governor Hochul has not said whether she’ll sign or veto this disgraceful travesty.
And, by the way, Governor, why not ease up on that eye-makeup? Makes you look like a zombie.
Advertisement
