To be blunt: students want marijuana legalized

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Nolan Cleary

Staff Writer

The fight for legal marijuana is supported by Hudson Valley Community College students as Governor Cuomo continues pushing it back.

Since July of 2014, cannabis has been legal in the state of New York for medicinal uses only, but a larger debate has since taken hold: will New York decriminalize the drug completely?

Governor Cuomo, who once viewed cannabis as a gateway drug, now believes that it’s time to legalize it. According to Cuomo, the drug could help bring more tax revenue into New York State.

Many Hudson Valley Community College students are in support of legalizing the drug as well.

“It’s good for the state economy,” Sumner Jewell, physics major, said in agreement with Cuomo’s thoughts.

John Murphy, a Republican student in digital media, also believed marijuana should be legal. “It has the potential for more revenue,” Murphy said.

Some proponents of the legalization don’t use the drug themselves but hold their position nonetheless. Democrat and digital media student, Connor Norris, is one such supporter.

“Personally I don’t do it, but for the people who do, I support them no matter what,” Norris said.

However, some students do use marijuana themselves or know others who do, making their support for legalization even stronger.

“I know people who use it in legal states and people who purchase it illegally in New York,”  Anthony Gaudino, a socialist leaning independent in political science, said.

Despite the widespread advocation, legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes may have to wait. Cuomo now claims he will remove the proposal from the state budget, signaling it may not be legal for a while. Some students were unhappy about the reaction from Cuomo.

“I believe he needs to be a little bit more aggressive towards making it legal,” Norris stated.

Gaudino believed what’s most important is for people who have been arrested in the past be forgiven for their crimes.

“It’s mostly about legalizing it and getting the tax money from it, but there’s no plans for people that’ve been put in prison for small stuff,” John MacDonald, a Democratic member of the New York State Assembly, said.

MacDonald has concerns about legalizing the drug but believes it is inevitable that it will become legal and thinks it is better to legalize it now rather than later.

“There’s a lot of moving parts to it that really need to be fully vetted and fully discussed,” he explained. Yet, MacDonald doesn’t believe it should be put into the state budget, instead be introduced via legislation.

MacDonald defends the governor on the issue. “The governor has been very consistent,” he argued. MacDonald thinks the tax money acquired from legalizing marijuana should go to government-funded education programs to warn people about the dangers of cannabis.

MacDonald is currently the only pharmacist in the New York State legislature. He claims his experience in the field has created concerns about the idea of legalizing the drug.

“I have a concern about adding a more readily available substance in a legal format to the public because I do believe it’s going to be mind-altering,” he commented. “That being said, that thinking is based on marijuana in an unregulated environment and not a regulated market, so maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.”

The Hudsonian reached out to Daphne Jordan, a Republican member of the New York State Senate, but was unable to get a statement.

Across campus as well as across the country, the debate continues.