‘Those individuals most affected by the ‘war on drugs,’ they argue, should get first shot at profiting from legal marijuana.’
Who should run New York’s legal marijuana shops? Former pushers, according to Governor Kathy Hochul, who announced Thursday that those with a marijuana arrest record will be first in line for retail licenses.
Supporters of the plan frame it as both fair and good business sense. Those individuals most affected by the “war on drugs,” they argue, should get first shot at profiting from legal marijuana. And those with prior experience selling pot would just be transplanting their skills to a now-legal market. . . . That will happen at the expense of other “equity” applicants—minority groups favored with half of legal pot licenses under New York’s law—who don’t share that history of lawbreaking.
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Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Adapted from City Journal.
This piece originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal