New York City dark horse mayoral candidate John Liu announced his support for legalizing and regulating recreational marijuana use last Wednesday, potentially re-igniting a conversation about the drug's role in the city and state moving forward.
"New York City's misguided war on marijuana has failed, and its enforcement has damaged far too many lives, especially in minority communities," Liu said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
According to Liu's office, a report on marijuana use in New York found that while 42.3 percent of marijuana smokers in New York City are white, they only account for 11.2 percent of the total marijuana-related arrests. In contrast, Hispanic users account for 13 percent of the city's pot smokers, but make up 34.8 percent of marijuana arrests. This paints a picture consistent with the one written about in the American Civil Liberties Union's report on federal drug arrests and race, released last year and independently verified by the New York Times.
According to Liu, New York City could increase revenue by over $400 million in the first few years that marijuana was legalized and taxed, a stream of money that could be used to reduce City University of New York (CUNY) tuition by half for city residents.
Technically, the city does not have the power to legalize marijuana. That's a state matter, and one that Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially does not support. State measures to legalize medical marijuana have passed through the Democratically-controlled Assembly in years past, though the Republican-controlled Senate has routinely defeated the bills. Recently, state Sen. Diane Savino, D-Brooklyn, has expressed confidence that a bill can pass the Senate as well.
As for New York City, the climate for medical marijuana seems to be growing politically friendlier. Republican mayoral candidate and front-runner Joe Lhota also supports legalizing marijuana, and current-mayor Michael Bloomberg has admitted to having smoked marijuana in the past, though he has never publicly supported legalizing it.
As for Liu, he's widely seen as a longshot candidate, and it would take a miracle finish for him to move out from under his current poll numbers to overtake the race and win the mayoral election.