The legions of reports and commentaries that have persistently issued over the past couple years on New York’s high-profile cannabis legalization program have varied in their details.
But they have routinely coalesced around these few core points: The plan is monumental, decidedly forward-looking, embraced by a majority of New Yorkers and constantly evolving as it edges nearer a full implementation.
We have periodically spotlighted and tracked key developments concerning the state’s Marijuana Regulation and Tax Act reformist legislation.
We noted in an earlier blog post this year, for example, that the MRTA has consistently “commanded both momentum and broad-based support.” Moreover, that entry underscored the legislation’s notable bipartisan thrust and strong support from the state’s diverse business community.
As the cannabis future edges ever closer, a team of CNBC commentators offers some insight into what they state “are a few critical measures regulators must take to ensure the successful implementation of adult-use cannabis.”
Here’s one: a fast-tracking of licensing for entities ready and able to cultivate product. That is necessary to ensure both adequate cannabis availability in a huge market and equity participation that broadly benefits the state’s expansive commercial sector.
And here’s another: an improved delivery system. A higher-tech distribution platform “will create competition for the illicit market and generate the levels of tax revenue many lawmakers are hoping to achieve.”
There are other hurdles to clear too, of course. If the state is even remotely successful with the MRTA, say the CNBC team, “the investment case for the U.S. cannabis industry overall improves extraordinarily.”
