Not even a month after legalizing recreational cannabis, New York looks posed to legalize psychedelics in 2023.
The legislation, which three Assembly Members will introduce, will legalize psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and ibogaine for adults over 21 years old.
Specifically, it would make legal the “possession, use, cultivation, production, creation, analysis, gifting, exchange, or sharing by or between natural persons of twenty-one years of age or older of a natural plant or fungus-based hallucinogen.”
Psychedelics? Didn’t New York Just Legalize Cannabis?
New York’sYork’s first adult-use cannabis sales began at 4:20 pm on December 22, 2022. The nonprofit Housing Works runs the first legal retail shop. Housing Works focuses on homelessness issues.
The governor had said New Yorkers would see a legal shop by year’s end. However, this is the bare minimum. Consumers expect New York to ramp up its retail locations in 2023.
A total of 36 organizations have received their retail dispensary licence. The New York regulatory, the Cannabis Control Board (CCB), has been adamant that they choose based on skin color and ethnic background instead of skill or experience.
However, lawyers are more concerned about the idea of nonprofits selling a commercial product. At least one argues that it could jeopardize their federal 501(c)(3) tax exemption status. Particularly since the federal government considers cannabis an illegal, controlled substance.
New York’s first legal sale was to the executive director of the New York Office of Cannabis Management.
What About New York’s Cannabis Industry
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement that “the opening of the first legal dispensary in our state right here in New York City is more than just a promising step for this budding industry—it represents a new chapter for those most harmed by the failed policies of the past.”
Likewise, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said: “Today is only the beginning, and I look forward to continuing our efforts to solidify New York as a national model for the safe, equitable and inclusive industry we are now building.”
What kind of cannabis industry is New York building? Earlier this month, Hochul unveiled a cannabis product verification tool. Soon, the government hopes to have private businesses and citizens use a QR code to buy weed.
“These tools will help to protect public health and strengthen our ability to deliver the equitable cannabis market our law envisions,” Hochul said in a press release.
New York to Legalize Psychedelics?
If New York legalizes psychedelics in 2023, what would it look like? QR codes for magic mushrooms? Will there be legal LSD shops? After all, the New York Office of Cannabis Management is clear: “Illicit shops put New York’s public health at risk and don’t reinvest into the community.”
Whether this is true will depend on the individual retailer. But like COVID lockdowns and domestic passports, the facts don’t matter. Most of the time, politicians and bureaucrats are projecting their own insecurities.
While legal cannabis and psychedelics are a step in the right direction, the devil is always in the details. When politicians talk about legalizing or regulating substances for “public health” and “equity,” you can be sure they’re doing it for their own self-interest.
The last few years have seen New York, particularly New York City, destroyed by the actions of politicians in the name of public health.
But hey, look, legal weed and magic mushrooms. All is forgiven, right?