In his 2019 Justice Agenda, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) proposed a statewide program to address the effects of marijuana-related criminalization. The program, if implemented, will reduce the impact of prosecution of marijuana charges in communities of color.

Let’s get one thing straight — marijuana legalization cannot be accomplished without reparations to communities of color harmed by its criminalization.

The one restitution Cuomo has proposed is the automatic sealing of certain cannabis-related criminal records. While this can be effective in helping ex-convicts find work or go to school after prison, it doesn’t address negative social effects on communities.

What Cuomo has proposed is a start, but it’s not enough.

More reparations must be made to communities of color, if the governor does, indeed, successfully legalize recreational marijuana in New York state. Compensation should be given to those incarcerated for minor marijuana-related offenses, and neighborhoods that were damaged by the war on drugs should, now, be able to reap the economic benefits of the recreational marijuana industry.

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Minor marijuana offenses are often paired with long prison sentences, and the conditions of prison can lead convicts to seek comfort in other drugs.

“Being in prison is very stressful and traumatic, and so that whole aspect of things creates this sort of vortex and a cycle of trauma and neurological shift. And in fact, this could make people more susceptible to the factors that put them at risk for addiction,” said Dessa Bergen-Cico, an associate professor in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics’ department of public health. Bergen-Cico is the school’s addiction studies program coordinator.

Not only are ex-cons susceptible to substance abuse, but they sometimes put themselves at risk with harmful synthetic marijuana.

“A condition of parole for a lot of people is that they have random drug testing, so if you’re in a state where marijuana is not legal — or even some states where it is legal — if they come out positive for marijuana they get in trouble,” Bergen-Cico said. “For some people, they have then chosen to use synthetic cannabis like Spice, and that stuff is really volatile and unpredictable. It has a lot more problems with it.”

Synthetic marijuana also presents a danger to community members, at large. The unregulated sale of fake weed can subject people to various illnesses, psychotic disorders and even death.

It’s clear there are benefits to legalizing recreational marijuana. But it’s also clear that, to successfully do that, New York state must repay those who have been unnecessarily harmed by its criminalization.

Jennifer Bancamper is a sophomore English and textual studies major. Her column appears bi-weekly. She can be reached at jbancamp@syr.edu.

Published on February 10, 2019 at 7:57 pm