During these uncertain economic times, New York State is struggling to make ends meet. With businesses being shut down, and people staying home, tax revenue has fallen dramatically. [A 463-page document released by Cuomo’s budget division outlines how the state is staying afloat through workplace shutdowns caused by the coronavirus that have sent the economy tumbling. It shows dire projections about the tax revenue decline across categories such as sales taxes (nearly 20%), lottery (21%) and gaming (34%). - (Source: https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/new-york-budget-deficit-covid-19-1.44310672 )]

      Lawmakers in NY have expressed support for the idea of legalizing cannabis, [“I do think there’s time in this legislative session to get it done,” Said Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes - (Source: https://www.marijuanamoment.net/top-new-york-lawmaker-wants-to-pass-marijuana-legalization-this-year-despite-coronavirus/ )]

     Even our governor has expressed his interest in the recreational legalization of cannabis. [“We will pass a budget and address the policy items that we laid out and discussed [in January],” Cuomo said during a press briefing on Monday. Those items include banning flavored e-cigarettes, tweaking certain cash-bail reforms and legalizing recreational marijuana. “We are going to pursue all of them,” the governor said. - (Source: https://observer.com/2020/03/new-york-state-budget-marijuana-legalization-despite-coronavirus-cuomo/ )]

     However with the current pandemic, legalization has fallen to the back burner. The time has come for citizens to make their voices  heard, especially as states that have legalized recreational cannabis have seen a boom in taxes, which our state desperately needs. [Colorado has now generated more than $1 billion in total state revenue from the legal marijuana industry, another milestone for the state that legalized cannabis in 2014. - (Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/12/colorado-passes-1-billion-in-marijuana-state-revenue.html )]

     Meanwhile in New York they are still arresting people who are “committing crimes” by our current laws, people who are hurt by the economic implications of this unprecedented crisis. These people are not the big time drug dealers that some would have you believe, they are every day people whose bills cannot wait for the government to debate public aid, they have to manipulate headlines to scare people and justify excessive police action, and line the pockets of owners of our for-profit prisons. [Utica man stopped on NYS Thruway, caught with more than 1 pound of marijuana, police say[...] That’s when troopers found Mathis in possession of 469 grams (or 1.03397 pounds) of marijuana, state police said. - Source: https://www.syracuse.com/crime/2020/04/utica-man-stopped-on-nys-thruway-caught-with-more-than-1-pound-of-marijuana-police-say.html )]

     The vast majority of Americans are in agreement that this needs to happen. [Two-thirds of Americans support marijuana legalization (Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/14/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/ )]

     Cannabis is not a threat to public safety by any means, and the state has have been destroying lives and wasting taxpayer dollars over something that they have already agreed should be legalized because they can’t be bothered pass the legislation. To be clear, the state has a problem with you paying your bills with cannabis, but only until they get a cut. This is not only immoral, but it goes against your rights as a human being. [Medical marijuana is used to treat a number of different conditions, including:

• Alzheimer's disease
• Appetite loss
• Cancer
• Crohn's disease
• Eating disorders such as anorexia
• Epilepsy
• Glaucoma
• Mental health conditions like schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Multiple sclerosis
• Muscle spasms
• Nausea
• Pain
• Wasting syndrome (cachexia)

(Source: https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/medical-marijuana-faq )]

    Therefore we as citizens must make our voice heard. It is time to end the pointless war on cannabis and finally pass legislature to bring our state into the 21st century. Keeping it illegal forces every day citizens to go to black markets where they have no way of knowing what they are getting. We should be keeping our citizens safe and protecting them with reasonable regulations, not making them into criminals so people can profit off their incarceration over a natural occurring plant that many cultures have used for thousands of years. This is why I am asking for you to sign and share this petition, so that our representatives can see that enough is enough. It is time to legalize recreational cannabis, and move forward to a safer, better, and happier future for our people.