Gary Colmey, 65, saw three probation officers walk into his Rome store, Gary’s Music. They weren’t there to buy a musical instrument.

In the back of his music store, Colmey runs a separate business called Gary’s Indoor Garden Supply. The supply store sells “absolutely legal cannabis,” or CBD, a product that does not get the user high and only relieves pain, he said.

Colmey wasn’t nervous when the officers walked in. Two of them were regulars: one bought product for his 95-year-old father and the other bought products for himself.

“(Cannabis) is how people get help,” Colmey said. “In my circle, they’re looking for medical and wellness reasons. We stopped calling it ‘getting high’ 20 years ago. We’re trying to get a good night’s sleep.”

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In June, New York state further decriminalized marijuana by increasing the amount a person can possess without criminal penalties from one ounce to two ounces. The new law includes automatic removal of records for people who have been charged with low-level marijuana possession.

Colmey, a self-described “cannabis activist” who runs the Facebook page Legalize It! CNY, said the bill doesn’t change much. Marijuana possession has been decriminalized in New York state since 1977. Although a person is allowed to possess small amounts of marijuana and only receive a fine, selling and growing marijuana is still illegal.

Possessing up to one ounce of marijuana can carry a $50 fine, and two ounces can carry a $200 fine. Possessing anything more than that could lead to jail time and a fine of $1,000 or more.

Decriminalization affects thousands of people who have low-level marijuana convictions in New York, said Nancy Udell, secretary and treasurer of the Empire State of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML. However, Udell said the bill falls short.

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“The expungement part of it really is the best part of the bill,” she said. “The decriminalization part fails miserably.”

New York State Senator Rachel May, D-Syracuse, supported full legalization under the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, said Jessica Bumpus, communications director for May. Though the act failed in the State Senate, May supports the new decriminalization bill, as expungement of records that would clear the records of an estimated 160,000 individuals, Bumpus said.

Having misdemeanor marijuana charges on a record can create barriers to receiving financial aid for education, finding employment and receiving other government help, said Dessa Bergen-Cico, a Syracuse University professor of drug policy and addiction studies.

“It’s definitely a good idea to look at the harms that are associated with criminalization of it in terms of the impact it has on people’s lives and who ends up actually spending time in prison,” Bergen-Cico said.

Black and hispanic people have higher rates of arrest for misdemeanor marijuana possession than white people, according to a 2017 study by John Jay College. During the 27-year study period, the rates increased. In large upstate New York cities, black people were more than 12 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people.

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“(Decriminalization) will have a big impact on people’s lives, especially communities of color who have seen the disproportionate rates of arrests and convictions for possession,” Bumpus said in an email to The Daily Orange.

A large part of the debate for full legalization of marijuana concerns how tax revenue from marijuana sales would be allocated, said Mary Kruger, executive director and founder of NORML in Rochester, a non-profit, marijuana advocacy group.

Kruger said there is a debate on whether the money should go into a general fund for New York or into a community reinvestment grant, which would go to communities that have been impacted by harsh drug criminalization.

“We want to see some of the tax revenue go back into the communities that have been disproportionately impacted,” Kruger said. “The community would have a voice in what they feel needs to be reinvested back into the community.”

Many people cross state lines to buy marijuana in states where it is recreationally legal, Udell said. Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in Massachusetts. This causes a lot of potential tax revenue to leave the state, she said.

Colmey said he publishes directions and menus for Massachusetts dispensaries on the Legalize it! CNY page. The group has more than 1,000 members.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made legalizing recreational use of cannabis a priority of his 2019 state budget. The New York State Department of Health conducted a study in 2018 that estimated that legalization could create jobs and generate about $300 million in tax revenue. The study also found that legalization would safeguard public health by regulating the market.

Udell said she believes marijuana will be fully legalized in New York by 2021, but NORML plans to lobby for it again in 2020. Colmey said he plans to continue advocating for cannabis activism through Legalize it! CNY and Gary’s Indoor Gardening Supply.

“When customers come in, I call them each ‘pot heads,’” Colmey said. “Then I ask them to support legalization during election time.”

Published on September 3, 2019 at 10:21 pm

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu