ALBANY — New York’s incoming Republican State Party Chairman Nick Langworthy is open to legalizing marijuana.
“My predecessor certainly had strong feelings on that…I was a strong proponent of medicinal marijuana. As a Republican party leader I was probably the first, you know, in the state to take that on,” the Erie County GOP Chair told reporters Monday in Albany.
“I don’t have the same hostility toward the legalization of marijuana as maybe my predecessors did,” Langworthy said.
It’s a contrast to outgoing state party Chair Ed Cox, who in March launched an anti-weed legalization campaign, arguing the measure “doesn’t make sense” and involves “huge dangers.”
The GOP’s policy action commission analyzed data reports from other states like Colorado.
It recommended the decriminalization of pot possession rather than legalization across the board.
Langworthy later hedged.
“We should not be trying to lead the pack in the field of legalization of marijuana…I would rather no one smoke marijuana…law enforcement needs to be at the forefront of those discussions, making sure safety is at the utmost concern,” he said.
Langworthy made a pit stop to the state capitol to rail against another proposal that would give driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, calling it a “blatant disrespect to the taxpayers across the state.”
“Has anyone here enjoyed their last trip to the DMV? Now we’re going to have people that don’t have any documentation coming in and walking out with a driver’s license,” he said.