New York Offers First Licenses for Legal Sale of Weed to Previously Convicted

New York officials are offering the state’s first 150 licenses for the legal sale of marijuana, a drug that is addicting Americans, to individuals previously convicted of cannabis offenses.

The state’s Democrat leaders implemented the policy seeking to “compensate” people in the black and Hispanic communities who were “disproportionately arrested and convicted” while marijuana was illegal, AFP reported Saturday.

In March 2021, the state legalized marijuana for recreational use when then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed legislation that included “automatic expungement of previous marijuana convictions that would now be legal,” according to Breitbart News.

In New York City, government officials expect the legal industry to bring in $1.3 billion in sales and nearly 24,000 jobs.

“As well as the cannabis conviction, applicants must also own a profitable business to be eligible for one of the first 150 licenses, which will precede a full opening of the market,” the AFP article said.

Meanwhile, New York City sanctioned the first shooting galleries for drug users in the nation, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said in November last year, claiming the Overdose Prevention Centers are a “safe and effective way to address the opioid crisis.”

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths from drug overdoses increased by 15 percent during President Joe Biden’s (D) first year in the White House, Breitbart News reported in May.

Over 107,000 people across the country died from drug overdoses last year, with more than 80,000 of them dying from opioids.

Meanwhile, CDC statistics show that approximately three in ten people in America have been diagnosed with marijuana addiction, Breitbart News reported in October.

“Likewise, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction found a 76 percent increase in treatment for marijuana addiction over the past decade,” the article noted.