Politically speaking, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s position lags. | AP Photo Cuomo says he remains opposed to recreational marijuana

SCHENECTADY — Gov. Andrew Cuomo remains opposed to legalizing marijuana for recreational use because he believes it is a “gateway drug,” he told reporters Wednesday.

“It’s a gateway drug, and marijuana leads to other drugs and there’s a lot of proof that that’s true,” the Democratic governor said before attending the grand opening of a new casino. “There’s two sides to the argument. But I, as of this date, I am unconvinced on recreational marijuana.”


According to the NIH’s National Institute of Drug Abuse, there is research that indicates marijuana usage precedes other drug use and can prime the brain to be more receptive to addiction. However, the majority of marijuana users do not move on to harder drugs, and other legal substances, like alcohol and nicotine, have similar neurological effects.

So is it a gateway drug?

“The direct answer,” Susan Weiss, a research director at the federal National Institute on Drug Abuse told the Boston Globe in September, “is maybe.”

Politically speaking, Cuomo’s position lags. Voters in California, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada this fall approved referenda on recreational marijuana, joining Oregon, Washington and Colorado in allowing for adult possession of recreational cannabis. Pot politics in other states could matter for the governor — Cuomo is seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2020.

New York approved a strictly controlled program of medical marijuana in 2014, but legislators like Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried led the way. Cuomo was a reluctant convert, though state agencies are currently loosening many of the restrictions on the existing program in response to economic pressures and complaints from New York’s medical marijuana companies.

Cuomo, in his written State of the State message this year, said he would push to amend marijuana laws to prevent “over-prosecution.” Possession of small amounts of marijuana is already a non-criminal offense, but gubernatorial aides suggested the pending promise was a re-tread of a 2012 push to eliminate the legal distinction between marijuana possessed in one’s pocket or in public view.

That effort was a response to the NYPD’s stop-and-frisk program, which ensnared a disproportionate share of young men of color on a public-view misdemeanor charge as opposed to a UPM summons, which is akin to a traffic ticket. Arrests for marijuana possession increased in New York City in 2016 from the year before, and there are still significant racial disparities in who is arrested.

State Sen. Liz Krueger, a Democrat from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has pending legislation that would legalize and tax recreational marijuana.

Here is Cuomo’s exchange on the issue:

Q: You’ve talked a lot about making New York a progressive leader, and in your state of the state written message you talked about restructuring marijuana laws. You haven’t embraced recreational marijuana even as other states have, and I’m wondering, why are you kind of a stick in the mud about recreational marijuana?

“Why am I a stick in the mud about recreational marijuana? That’s a sort of loaded question, wouldn’t you say Jimmy? It has an opinion in it. I support medical marijuana, I don’t support recreational marijuana — apparently you do, which explains some of the stories you’ve been writing. Recreational marijuana I think should be separated from the workplace, do we agree on that?”

Q: Absolutely, sir.

“I just wanted to make sure.”

Q: But you’ve smoked marijuana, you’ve said you’ve done so. Why not recreational marijuana? Lots of New Yorkers smoke marijuana unlawfully.

“The flip-side argument as you know is it’s a gateway drug, and marijuana leads to other drugs and there’s a lot of proof that that’s true. There’s two sides to the argument. But I, as of this date, I am unconvinced on recreational marijuana. If you choose to marijuana recreationally, you know the law, but again, as reporters, I think you should keep it out of the workplace. But it does explain a lot to me, Jimmy. I want you to know that.”