Miller introduces marijuana equity bill
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City Councilmember I. Daneek Miller introduced a bill that would create an office for overseeing legal marijuana in New York City if passed. AP file photo by Richard Vogel
By Jacob Kaye
Two City Councilmembers, including one from Queens, introduced a bill Thursday aimed at creating an office to oversee legal marijuana in New York City.
Queens Councilmember I. Daneek Miller and Brooklyn Councilmember Darma V. Diaz, introduced the legislation that would create an Office of Cannabis Business Services on Oct. 7.
The office would monitor the implementation of the regulations of the state’s marijuana law, which passed in April, while also turning its eyes toward the social equity provisions laid out in the law.
Black and brown New Yorkers have suffered disproportionately when compared to their white counterparts under marijuana prohibition and could face additional struggles – from licensing, financing and employment – in the implementation of legal recreational cannabis.
For Miller, the need for equity hits close to home. His district has long been home to some of the highest numbers of marijuana arrests and summonses in the city.
“Just legalizing marijuana doesn't fix the problem,” Miller told the Eagle. “There are communities that have been historically impacted, families and individuals whose lives have been changed, that we haven't made them whole, we haven't figured out how to make them whole.”
Miller also worries that the state’s law might not adequately correct some of the racial disparities. A provision of the law would offer subsidized loans to impacted communities looking to get into the marijuana business but the money for the loans would come from tax revenue generated from existing business.
Put in practice, Miller said Black and brown communities would again be blocked out from getting into the business on the ground floor, losing opportunities for prime real estate and capital.
“If you don't have the millions of dollars, startup funds, then you have to wait until the revenue from the sales happen and then just redistributed as low interest loans and subsidies,” he said. “Other people now I've already got the best available sites or opportunities and we’re still waiting on startup capital.”
That’s where he hopes the Office of Cannabis Business Services would step in.
The office would be tasked with establishing citywide cannabis equity goals, help socially and economically disadvantaged people apply for business licenses and develop incentives for those same applicants, including legal advice, subsidized loans and assistance for finding retail space.
Additionally, the office would be required to send bi-annual reports on the status of commercial cannabis in New York City to the City Council.
The reports would identify instances where the city is falling short of the marijuana law’s equity provisions, the bill says.
The effort to create a marijuana office in New York City follows the state’s efforts to create a similar body that would oversee legal weed. The Office of Cannabis Management met for the first time this week, after former Governor Andrew Cuomo delayed creating the office immediately after the state’s law was passed.
The state’s office started to take form once Governor Kathy Hochul became the state’s top executive. In September, she named Hollis-native Christopher Alexander to serve as the office’s executive director.
