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Insiders predict New York will soon make marijuana legal

Legal pot will come to New York, cannabis industry experts predict, noting the economic benefits to states and cities.

Indeed, it is inevitable, they add, because, as neighboring states approve legalization, tax-hungry New York lawmakers will be jonesing for the revenue that comes from legalized weed.

Indeed, legal pot, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in a recent report, could generate billions in revenue.

The comptroller “estimates the potential market for adult-use marijuana in New York state at roughly $3.1 billion, including approximately $1.1 billion in New York City,” Stringer wrote.

And that, Stringer wrote, could mean “$436 million annually in new tax revenue from legal marijuana sales, while New York City could garner as much as $335 million.”





A cannabis industry observer says New York has been slow to adopt legalization and that it could cost it in the short term.

“States that have legalized and regulated cannabis use will see a boom in jobs created over the next several years,” writes Tom Adams, an Arcview market research manager and principal analyst for BD Analytics.

Marijuana business analysts estimate that legal cannabis has had a $40 billion economic impact in the US.

However, for now, New York state permits only the limited use of medical marijuana.

Full legalization bills are now before the New York Legislature. However, legislative sources now privately say they are “unlikely” to pass this session.

Stringer, in a statement to The Post, strongly supports legalization.

“The prosecution of marijuana-related crimes has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on black and Hispanic communities for far too long,” Stringer said.

Sales of legal pot will contribute to “the equivalent of 414,000 full-time jobs by the year 2021,” Arcview’s Adams predicts.





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