Gov. Cuomo said he is abandoning a plan to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, while defending his latest proposal to have the drug accessible for medical use.
The governor said Monday that he is ditching the plan for legalizing small amounts of weed because possession arrests due to stop-and- frisks are no longer a major factor.
He has previously pushed legislation to decriminalize the drug because of the policy’s effect on minority communities.
The NYPD has dramatically reduced stop-and-frisk searches, and a federal judge has deemed some of the searches unconstitutional.
Also, Cuomo’s proposal had stiff opposition in the state Senate.
But the governor defended his new proposal to dispense marijuana for medical use to patients suffering from cancer and other ailments at 20 hospitals across the state.
Cuomo emphasized it is a limited experiment to see if medical marijuana can be administered “without ancillary problems.” He opposes any additional legislative action to sanction medical marijuana.
“It’s not a law, so it’s not the Legislature telling me what I have to do. And that gives me great comfort,” he said.
Meanwhile, a new poll shows that a majority of Americans support legalization of marijuana.
In the CNN opinion poll, 55 percent of people questioned said that the drug should be made legal, as has been done in Colorado and Washington state; only 44 percent disagree.