Gov. Kathy Hochul has rightly called out the Empire State’s legal weed rollout as disastrous — which you’d think would be obvious, but not to the progs who saddled the state with this mess.
The Legislature (with then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s acquiescence) burdened legal-weed licensing with a host of “equity” mandates — which soon triggered lawsuits that further slowed everything down.
And the progressives running the Office of Cannabis Management turn out to be clueless when it comes to getting anything done, instead burning time and energy on intra-office politics.
Indeed, much of the litigation came because OCM chased one of the law’s licensing mandates (putting former crooks ahead of law-abiding citizens) to the exclusion of others, such as preferring veterans.
Of course, the pot law also managed to privilege illegal shops, making them nearly impossible to shut down — leaving Gotham with an estimated 1,500, against just 38 kosher ones.Â
The criminal shop owners add yet more chaos to a city already groaning under rising violence and theft.
Now Hochul’s pulling OCM under the microscope, with a 30-day review conducted by General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy.Â
Bring the hammer down on these bunglers: Name, shame and replace.Â
Some of that may already be happening: OCM has put Damian Fagon, its social equity director, on leave over allegations that he shut down a licensed upstate shop after its owner criticized him.Â
As welcome as Hochul’s drive to fix OCM is, her push to give teeth to law enforcement when it’s time to crack down on illegal operators is even more crucial.
Her budget includes a move to empower local cops to shut down illegal shops, though of course the crime-loving leftists who dominate the Legislature are resisting.
Fact is, the original legal-pot law probably needs a rewrite: Fully reversing this disaster requires fixing New York’s entire dazed and confused approach to fostering a legal industry.