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Dear Elected Official and Fellow New Yorker,

Earlier this year, New York made history by passing the country’s most comprehensive cannabis bill. One poll* noted that 58% of us supported this legislation centered in reinvestment, repair and reform to our criminal justice system, desperately needed improvements to our medical cannabis program as well as endowing equity as a priority. (*Sienna poll 3/15/21)

New York is one of the country’s largest markets and stands as an example for the rest of the nation. It is important that we get this right; that means creating policies with regulatory officials who respect, honor and uphold the tenets of justice in our Cannabis Law.

New York has the opportunity to set the standard that other legalized states before have not. This must begin with selecting the right people for our Cannabis Control Board, as our Social Equity Officer and most importantly as the Executive Director of the Office of Cannabis Management.

As a New York resident, I support a regulatory official who:

• Prioritizes an equitable and accountable industry especially for the members of our community most tragically affected by the enduring damage of marihuana prohibition and New York’s Rockefeller drug laws by:

  • creating a fair licensing structure which does not systemize the selling of access to the industry for the highest bidders;

  • forgoing predatory practices with clear and reasonable delineation of equity standards; ◦ understanding that a pre-existing market has served New York for many decades which, with focused policy, can now transition successfully into this new system of taxation and regulation;

  • streamlining equitable entry, business development and appropriation of financial loans and grants to our small business community, farmers and communities identified as hardest hit.

• Understands that public safety includes

  • protecting our young people from disproportionate law enforcement;

  • respecting and applying emerging scientific cannabis research;

  • promoting public education based in current factual information not out-dated fear mongering;

  • initiating safe manufacturing and distribution of cannabis just as we do for any other medicine, herb or ingestible for the protection of our patients and consumers.

• Upholds the dignity and prioritizes the care of our medical cannabis patient community by:

  • demolishing barriers of access to their medication including additional taxation, physical proximity to dispensaries, hindrances to their ability to grow their own medicine or be at the mercy of fickle consumer demands and whims;

  • standardizing laboratory testing of medicine for harmful contaminants, active and inactive ingredients as well as its chemical makeup just as we do for any and all patient medications;

  • safeguarding our patients HIPAA and other privacy rights allowing them to focus on their health and well-being instead of scrutiny and investigation.

• Does not recriminalize cannabis or those who utilize it.

Choosing the right regulators of our cannabis industry is integral to a safe and successful New York. To do so would protect the integrity of this landmark legislation, protect the legacy of New York as a leader in justice and stand as shining light to the rest of the United States.

Sincerely,

X____________________________________________

Address: ___________________________________, _________________________, NY _______ 

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