Legal Weed Has De Blasio's Support If Convictions Get Tossed

NEW YORK — New York should make weed legal as long as old pot convictions go up in smoke, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio's new stance on the issue. Notwithstanding his past trepidation, the Democratic mayor endorsed legalizing marijuana on Thursday as his administration released recommendations on how to do it.

De Blasio has previously expressed concerns about big companies dominating the legal pot industry. But he now argues legalization done right could "choke off" corporate giants while addressing criminal justice concerns.

"Those who bore the past burdens should reap the benefits of the future, not corporate executives," the mayor said at a news conference.

De Blasio called for automatically expunging old marijuana convictions and granting a majority of licenses to produce and sell weed to those who have born the brunt of pot enforcement, such as people of color and poor people.

The mayor declared his newfound support for legalization three days after Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledged to push for it in Albany next year. The governor has not given details on what exactly his proposal will include.

De Blasio empaneled a city task force to study legalization in July, the same month the state Department of Health published a lengthy report finding it would do more good than harm.

The task force's new 79-page report says marijuana use should be allowed for adults 21 and older, an age limit that should be enforced with civil rather than criminal penalties. Smoking pot in public should still be illegal, de Blasio said, though it should generally not be punished with arrests.

"For a lot of people that's a very uncomfortable situation," he said. "For a lot of parents that's very uncomfortable in terms of their children and how they want to teach their children."

The report argues the state should set broad marijuana regulations but leave local governments with authority over public consumption sites, home delivery services, retail locations and other pieces of the industry.

In addition to tossing out marijuana-related convictions, the report says people with past convictions for drug crimes should not be barred from getting a pot license.

Talk of legalization has come with some debate over how to spend the tax revenue that marijuana would create. Former City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has proposed putting some of the money toward fixing the subways, while other officials say it should go toward tackling the racial injustices drug enforcement has wrought.

The city's report says state tax revenues should be distributed to local governments so they can be spent "in line with local priorities."

De Blasio is just the latest official to join the push to make New York the 10th state to legalize recreational pot. Mark-Viverito, who's now running for public advocate, got behind legalization in 2014. Her successor as speaker, Corey Johnson, also supports it.

The mayor and the NYPD have lightened up enforcement of low-level pot crimes, most recently moving away from most arrests for lighting up in public. But racial disparities have persisted, with black and Hispanic people accouting for more than eight in 10 marijuana arrests last year.

In discussing his concerns about the marijuana industry running amok, de Blasio brought up the opioid crisis, which he said was created by companies that made addictive drugs "with very little in place to stop them" and then deceptively promoted them.

The mayor said he became convinced that legalization could work in New York as his administration learned more about how it's played out in other places. But creating the right rules will be key, he said.

"There should not be a single final step until the rules are in place and until we know how to do this fairly," de Blasio said. "If we just open the floodgates we’re going to regret it."

De Blasio, first lady Chirlane McCray and other city officials copped to smoking pot in the past. The mayor said he tried it in college, but it "wasn't my thing."

"I can't even remember whether I inhaled because it was so long ago," he said.

(Lead image: Mayor Bill de Blasio marches in the Veteran's Day Parade on Nov. 11, 2018. Photo by Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)