Here's Why Cynthia Nixon Wants Legal Weed In New York

Cynthia Nixon who you may recognize from the cast of the TV show Sex and the City is running for the governor of New York. If she becomes the governor, she wants to legalize marijuana for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is to stop the unfair incarceration of people of colour for marijuana possession. There are a number of marijuana-related arrests in New York, and a majority of them are targeting people of colour. It's extremely unfair since white people get away with using marijuana without consequence and the law is much harder on people of colour, and it needs to stop. She also said that even though white people and coloured people use marijuana at the same rate, 80% of the arrests in New York City for marijuana-related crimes are on coloured people. Currently, the law in the state of New York makes it illegal to have marijuana in your possession without a medical card or doctor recommendation. People caught with 25 grams of marijuana, or less could be given fines of $250 for the first couple of times they are caught with it and then if they are caught with it a third time they will be put in jail for 15 days.

While it's actually legal to smoke it in public, but if they have more than 25 grams, it would be considered a misdemeanour. If a person has more than 8 ounces of marijuana, it would be considered a felony which could get up to 4 years in jail. One to 10 pounds of marijuana would get seven years, and more than 10 pounds would get someone a 15-year sentence. If the state were to legalize cannabis, it would reduce the number of people going to jail each year, and it would then raise money for the city because of the taxes put in place. It would also create more jobs for people as well. But New York City's mayor Bill de Blasio isn't on board with the idea of legalizing marijuana and governor Andrew Cuomo has talked about marijuana as a gateway drug. Bill de Blasio has gotten the NYPD to reduce the number of arrests made on people with marijuana, but he's not ready to have it completely legal. Another reason to legalize marijuana is so that more people can have access to it for it's health benefits. Marijuana had been used as a medicine for a long time before it became illegal. People made salves and creams out of it to help with arthritis and sore muscles. They also made tinctures out of it for various alternative therapies for headaches and even nausea.

Many states have either legalized it for recreational use or for medicinal use, or they have decriminalized it meaning that a state repealed its laws and certain things will be considered criminal but not able to be put up for prosecution. So that means that people who have been found with a smaller amount of marijuana that's for their own personal use, they won't be charged with a crime. So in most states at this time possession of marijuana would be treated like a minor traffic violation. Because of the health benefits of the cbd and thc in marijuana, it seems strange to many people that people can still go to jail for having it on them. What's even worse is that coloured people are once again being targeted for something that white people do just as much. Cynthia Nixon could be a great governor that would make some much-needed changes in the state of New York that would protect people of colour and support the use of alternative therapies like marijuana.***