Editorial
Op-ed
Up to speed on legal weed
It took a global pandemic that exposed
great economic suffering and inequality
in New York for the Empire State to fi nally
be on the cusp of fully legalizing marijuana.
State lawmakers passed late Tuesday night
a plan to legalize the recreational use of cannabis
in New York, as agreed upon with Governor
Andrew Cuomo — setting up an outline
for how this dramatic change will work for the
state, the economy and its people.
For years now, medicinal marijuana has
been legal in New York — though it’s been
speculated that the main reason why recreational
use wasn’t permitted earlier was not
due to health concerns, but rather because no
government wants to green-light a new drug
industry, even if the cash injections of taxing
this drug would be gargantuan.
Obviously, there’s new momentum behind
Cuomo’s plan. The state is thinking green
here — as in dollar bills, not marijuana leaves.
Although the American Rescue Plan has
been received favorably, states have bled so
much money during the COVID-19 pandemic
that every taxable industry conceivable should
be fully annexed, lest our essential services
go up in smoke.
We want to recover, better, faster and
stronger. Decriminalizing marijuana helps
accomplish that goal on a variety of levels.
Legalization shifts police resources on to
other things and will help free thousands of
New Yorkers wrongly jailed for minor offenses.
A signifi cant excise tax for marijuana purchases
will pump billions of dollars in new cash
into the state economy over the next decade.
Moreover, the approved plan also incorporates
the desire for weed-seller licenses to go
to women and minority populations. Let’s be
honest: an ounce of the green stuff is going
to rake in a hell of a lot more profi t that the
gumball mom-and-pops of yore. There’s great
economic opportunity here that cannot be
wasted.
Public safety questions abound, and perhaps
the biggest concern is for the streets.
How will police be able to stop drivers who
are under the infl uence of marijuana from
getting behind the wheel?
The plans call for a research study to
develop better methodologies to detect
cannabis-impaired drivers, and additional
funding for drug recognition and law enforcement
experts to help keep the streets safe.
But with those questions unanswered,
there will likely be inconsistent policing and
enforcement of the rules.
While it’s high time for marijuana to be
legalized in New York, there is much to do to
ensure its legalization works out for the best.
Publisher of The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now,
Downtown Express and Manhattan Express
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VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS
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DEAN MOSES
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Minority Women Business Enterprise
Poverty in NYC is a
slow-moving disaster
A homeless man sits in Midtown
BY ZACH HODGSON
By any measure, there was a growing
crisis of homelessness in New
York City even before the impacts
of a global pandemic reached our shores
a year ago.
While the most dependable and trusted
sources of public health guidance began
imploring us all to stay home, frequently
wash our hands, and other seemingly plain
instruction, thousands who spend their
days and nights on city streets and subway
platforms did not have those options. They
still don’t.
When free and publicly available bathrooms
and showers shuttered across New
York City, it required an international
humanitarian organization with experience
gained in confl ict zones and refugee camps
around the world to bring hygiene services
to the Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen communities.
With a shower trailer, portable sinks,
hygiene products, staff and volunteers,
hundreds of people surviving on the street
were given access to a shower, hand washing,
a shave, and a bit of dignity restored.
As the winter months began, it became
clear that thousands still unsheltered lacked
opportunities to simply warm their bodies,
avoiding frostbite, hypothermia, even
death. In any other winter, a network of
houses of worship provides space, cots,
and volunteers for overnight shelter. During
the day, drop-in centers at full capacity,
indoor soup kitchens, even time purchased
through a cup of coffee at a fast-food
FILE PHOTO/DEAN MOSES
restaurant are available. The subway system
with its open benches becomes a place of
refuge from the threat of weather even if
other threats still exist.
Poverty is a slow-moving disaster, and
homelessness one of its starkest consequences.
It is not a storm that can change
the life of a family overnight or even a
wildfi re that can devastate communities
over a matter of weeks. It is a disaster of
decades with its causes deeply rooted in
the same racial inequities this pandemic
made so visible.
As we enter our second year of living
with COVID-19, hopeful that vaccination
efforts will turn us toward the solution
to a public health crisis, we must be prepared
to address this slow-moving disaster
with the same urgency we would a major
earthquake. As eviction moratoriums lift
and new government benefi ts subside, we
must be prepared for years of aftershocks
compounding the homelessness crisis that
existed before the outbreak of a novel
coronavirus.
Long-term economic recovery will require
a whole-community approach, more
like historic efforts that followed the Great
Depression than those after the touch down
of a tornado. Homelessness cannot be left
to a government agency, service organization,
or advocacy group that knows the
names of people on the street. Tackling it
requires all sectors working together.
Zack Hodgson is the Director of Emergency
Services for The Salvation Army
Greater New York Division.
8 April 1, 2021 Schneps Media
/www.thevillager.com
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