The new blueprint for the marijuana movement in New York will pit medical marijuana against recreational marijuana and rich users against poor users, fragmenting the NY marijuana movement into ever-smaller social groups competing for slices of the growing multi-million dollar marijuana market. Call it “Divide and Lose.” Observers on the front line of the legalize marijuana movement say it’s a shrewd strategy for rich ‘Potbarons’ already in the million dollar ‘exclusive’ New York Medical Marijuana Club” (Re: Compassionate Care Program). Stevie Wonder could see the fix was in. Only five (5) ‘rich’ and politically connected applicants will get license. They are allowed to select twenty organizations to operate the dispensaries.
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New York has a long history of cronyism and nepotism so we should not be surprised business associates and relatives will most likely get permission to operate the twenty (20) medical marijuana dispensaries. They will get richer while the 99% poor and sick people will lose all hope of participating in the New York marijuana industry. This is sad when the medical marijuana bill passed as a result of daily bus loads of poor sick people who were shuttled to Albany legislators to offer heart wrenching testimonies in support of medical marijuana. It was the made for TV reality shows that dramatically changed the minds of several Republicans legislators to support medical marijuana.
The strategy was masterly implemented by two female political colleagues: Democratic Senator Diane Savino and Democratic Senator Liz Krueger. It began with the creation and submission of the ‘Compassionate Care Act’ by Senator Savino in early 2014. Savino is a New York Democratic State Senator from Staten Island who has a chair on the Senate’s Finance Committee. It should be noted every bill submitted to the legislature must first be voted out of the Finance Committee. You get the picture. The medical marijuana bill was a difficult uphill fight from the beginning so compromise was inevitable.
Governor Cuomo and the majority of Republican legislators opposed legalizing marijuana in any form but they were willing to support medical marijuana if Savino would accept ‘draconian restrictions’ that protected there pals in the liquor and cigarettes business. The only counter weight to Cuomo and his conservative Republican push for a ‘restrictive medical marijuana program’ was the large population of unpredictable recreation pot smokers who ‘hated’ Cuomo and angrily opposed Albany’s ‘pay to play’ politics. There was a need to turn down the noise. Savino’s ‘sent out political operatives to inform and persuade marijuana movement leaders to believe that the only way forward to full legalization was to first get medical marijuana legalized.
The recreation marijuana movement went into sleep mode for the rest of 2014. Panic hit Krueger and Savino after Ferguson and Staten Island blew up. There was real fear that frustrated Marijuana movement leaders would join broad coalitions like the ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ and ‘Black Life’s Matter’ protest movements. The almost daily news of young black men getting shot by white cops could snowball and trigger massive protest marches. Another plan was needed in the middle of 2014 to divert the attention of frustrated marijuana movement leaders away from their sole focus on getting recreation marijuana legalized in New York. Insiders realized that if recreation marijuana smokers joined larger protest movements, it could become a real force in demanding passage of recreation marijuana for adults. Enter Senator Liz Krueger, a Democratic Senator from upper Manhattan who is chairperson on the Finance Committee. Krueger introduced a recreation marijuana bill called ‘Recreation Regulation Taxation Act’ (MRTA) several months after Senator Savino’s introduction of the medical marijuana bill. This was a clever strategy to "Divide” the NY marijuana movement.
The hullabaloo about MRTA soon drowned the news grabbing noise coming from New York’s medical marijuana movement. Recreation smokers rejoiced and made Senator Krueger a hero even after Senator Krueger admitted her bill had no chance of passing. It didn’t take long for activists across New York State to realize they had been ‘tricked’. Senator Krueger never intended to push MRTA. It was a diversionary tactic designed to divide the marijuana movement. Krueger stretched the suspense out by wisely staying in the background of marijuana news while letting her office staff i.e. Brad Usher speak for her and block access to her. Under the radar, Senator Savino’s medical marijuana bill got passed. It was seriously flawed but none the less the medical marijuana industry stood to make millions without interference or protest from poor people. The question is ‘Where do we go from here’?
First, we need to reach out and collaborate with demonstrators from the Disarm NYPD protest group, mix with Freddie Gray protesters and join members of the annual May Day rally, which advocates for workers' rights. This includes at least a dozen other groups working on social issues like job creation in the new ‘Green Economy’. We need to also get on the front line of the movement to change police training programs particularly with respect to non violent arrest of minority teenagers for marijuana. It’s time to understand that Democrats and Republicans have failed us. It’s time to think about supporting another political party. The New York ‘Green Party has a grass roots platform and the Libertarian Party would be a worth checking out. Second, we need to challenge the legality of New York’s ‘medical marijuana program’. It doesn’t take a lawyer to see the program violates the Constitutional rights of poor people to have a fair and equitable chance to participate in the medical marijuana program ($10,000 to register & $200,000 refundable fee) and due process rights to challenge the program and appeal its bias guidelines and registration process. And third, we need to participate in more ‘Protest’ marches not ‘Parades’. We need to protest across New York State especially in up state New York like in Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Long Island, etc. It’ time to get over our petty differences and fight for legalization of marijuana in New York State. Forward Ever. Backward Never.
Written by Dennis Levy. For more information: nysctlm@gmail.com .
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