It was less than two years ago that Governor Andrew Cuomo was skeptical about the legalization of marijuana in New York. He spoke of his views in 2017 in Schenectady.

"It's a gateway drug and marijuana leads to other drugs and there's a lot of proof that that's true," Cuomo said. 

But in the months since, Cuomo's views have shifted. He would later tell reporters the facts on marijuana have changed and support a state study on the issue. Shifting once more, on Monday at the New York City Bar Association, Governor Cuomo backed the legalization of marijuana, calling it a criminal justice issue. 

"We must also end the needless and unjust criminal convinctions, the debilitating criminal stigma, and let's legalize the adult use of marijuana once and for all," Cuomo said.

Cuomo did not provide many details on what the legalization of marijuana in New York would mean, how it could be taxed, or whether criminal records could be expunged, but he did call the move part of an effort to provide equity in the criminal justice system.

"The fact is we have had two criminal justice systems: one for the wealthy, [one for] the well off, one for everyone else," Cuomo said.

 

 

Cuomo unveiled his 2019 agenda in the address, several weeks earlier than usual, as Democrats prepare to take control of the state Senate in the new year.

He also backed new gun control legislation: such as extending the waiting period to buy a gun from three days to 10, and a ban on bump stocks — a device that makes it easier to fire more shots in a short period of time.

"New York must lead the way against this place of madness that the nation is in," Cuomo said.

Cuomo additonally backed efforts to fight climate change, enabling the state to become carbon neutral by 2040 — an effort known as the Green New Deal. The speech borrowed heavily on themes of Franklin Roosevelt, with Cuomo also backing higher taxes for the rich, but also making permanent a cap on property taxes.

"Our state tax code is more progressive today than it has ever been. We must maintain our millionaires tax and make permanent our two percent property tax cap on our regressive local property taxes, something FDR fought against for decades," Cuomo said.

One measure Cuomo did not embrace was a bill to create a single payer health care system for New York. Cuomo supports it on the national level, but has questioned the cost for the state.