New York to give $200 MILLION to ex-felons to set them up as licensed pot sellers. Seriously.

New York legalized the possession and use of marijuana last year.

Of course the politicians weren't about to let just anybody sell pot.  Heaven forbid!  Instead they decreed that the only people who could legally sell the stuff had to be...wait for it...licensed by the state.

The state pols will even allow New Yorkers to get joints delivered right to their doors.  Hard to believe, unless you're a Democrat, eh?

Now about those licenses:  You'd think...but why even bother going there, eh?  They're pols, they're both stupid and corrupt, and the only thing they're interested in is lining their pockets.

So...the actual LAW says the state will give preference in awarding the coveted licenses to "people with experience” in selling illegal drugs.  

Yes, the state has announced it will award the lucrative licenses to people with marijuana convictions on their records.

Yes, you read that right.  In fact, the state will even give taxpayer dollars..."subsidies"...to members of favored racial groups who wanna get in on the action. Is this a great country or what?

The first legal, state-licensed "dispensaries" (nice innocuous name, eh?) should open before the end of the year. The legal marijuana market in New York has been estimated to be worth about $7 billion per year.

As you already guessed, politicians are salivating over the prospect of taxing this market at 12 percent or so.  And the state is planning a huge array of taxes, including a complex tax based on potency of the pot, and rules preventing legal pot-selling businesses from writing off standard business expenses.

But what legislators ignore is that persons of politically-preferred pigmentation realize that paying all those taxes really cuts into their profits, eh?  And when you add the cost of leasing retail space, paying utilities, social security, medicare, unemployment insurance, accountants...the stuff every honest business has to contend with...most people say "f-it" and go back to selling the stuff on the street.

After all, there's no longer any penalty for that, so why not?

New York is already seeing $2 billion per year in unlicensed marijuana sales, and it's likely this will increase once duh folx who own dem licenses realize what a pain in the ass it is to comply with all of the state's rules and regulations.

Eh, we'll worry 'bout dat later.  Right now the state is overtly recruiting “justice involved individuals” to apply fo' one o' dem faaaabulous licenses!

Now, if you live in flyover country you may not be familiar with the term "justice-involved individual."  Means anyone who's been in jail.  In New York that's a big pool.

Of course duh pols wanna spread duh "equity" aroun', so duh law say you is a justice-involved individual if you had “a parent, guardian, child or spouse" who did time.
 
You may well wonder why duh state be givin' duh license preference to duh ex-cons, eh?  But it make sense, cuz duh pols be thinkin' "equity."  Dat enough, but also duh pols say experience selling pot bees “business experience.”

Some folks not sure bout dat.  Dey say maybe dude who sell duh pot befo' may not keep duh rules, pay dem taxes an' so on.  You get it.

As one attorney put it, "Street dealers have probably never struggled with regulatory compliance or tax accounting, since illegal dealers prefer cash, so no accounting."

As Milton Friedman noted, “the black market was a way of getting around government controls.”  But hey, doze pols beez LOTS smahtah than Milton Friedman, eh?  Dey sure dat duh former street dealers will obey all duh rulz an' pay dey taxes, jus' like dem stupid wi-pipo.

Yeah, you bet, dog.

So duh pols in Albany done created a "Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund"--I swear I'm not making this up--to give cash to "certain justice-involved license-holders" to cover their cost of setting up shops, hiring staff and accountants, and paying all other overhead costs.  

Again, I swear I'm not making this up.

The state plans to give duh favored licensees $200 million from duh "Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund.  And like California, New York will hire gummint workers to walk duh peeps applying fo' duh license to make sure dey get duh application and documentation requirements right.

Duh pols say dey haf ta do dis "to make licensure accessible."  An' dey ain't no bettah use of $200 million in taxpayer funds, eh?

Besides, duh pols say dey eventually get dis cash back through all dat tax revenue.  Yep yep yep.

Now I know some o' ya nasty wi-pipo be sayin' dis law dumb--dat payin' ex-cons to hep 'em start stores to sell pot seems crazy.  Y'all jus' raaaacis'!  Next you be sayin' dat releasin' duh folks charged wif murderers wifout bail be puttin' duh innocent ol' ladies at risk or sumpin'.  Dat jus' silly.

An' you ain' got no say in dis anyway.  Duh pols don' give a damn whut you think or want, so if dey wanna spend $200 million to set up ex-cons and dere kids as legal pot sellers, day do, an' you just shut up, eh?  

So...we're about to watch an experiment.  One thing you can count on: You'll never see the *real* numbers on the taxes paid by pot licensees.  And regardless of how little of the estimated tax revenue the state receives, the pols will tout this law as working faabulously well.  And anyone who disagrees will be called a raaaaaaacis'.

Source 

https://jonathanturley.org/2022/09/27/reefer-madness-the-new-york-law-on-legalized-marijuana-is-a-triumph-of-politics-over-logic/