Home Politics America NY’s New Budget Bans Vape Flavours And Drops Marijuana Legalization

NY’s New Budget Bans Vape Flavours And Drops Marijuana Legalization

New York's new $117 billion budget, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo has just signed “behind closed doors” and “with very little discussion”, is being criticised for setting in place some questionable measures whilst dropping some good ones.

Diane Caruana

May 21, 2020

Marijuana legalization has been abandoned for the second consecutive year, with Cuomo saying managing the coronavirus and squeezing in a legalization plan, wold have been “too much”.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s new $117 billion budget, sets in place some questionable measures. Amongst other things, it bans flavoured vaping products and has abandoned the proposal to legalize marijuana products. “The coronavirus isn’t just an excuse to implement bad policies with little or no debate. Officials can also use the situation to abandon good reforms,” pointed out an article on Reason.

“The budget implements a number of bad regulations while abandoning or scaling back some good ones. And the whole budget was hammered out behind closed doors and passed with very little discussion or debate,” added the article.

Marijuana legalization has been abandoned for the second year in a row. Cuomo’s excuse was that it was just “too much” to manage the coronavirus and squeeze in a legalization plan, a significant action against public health (or rather non-action) given the latest data.

EVALI is less common in states where marijuana is legal

A recent study published by JAMA Network Open, has indicated that the occurrence of EVALI was less common in US states where marijuana products are legal. This indicated once again that most EVALI cases were found in states where consumers do not have legal access to recreational marijuana dispensaries, and therefore had to resort to purchasing such products on the blackmarket.

This study confirms what public health experts have been pointing out for years. Prohibition does not work, regulating sensibly does! Studies from around the globe keep showing that consumers’ response to making products unavailable, is normally turning to contraband versions bought on the black market. This is even more so the case in the case of minors, who as an age group are more inclined to experiment and engage in risky behaviour.

This means that sadly, besides illicit marijuana sales, similar patterns of behaviour can now also be expected across New York State for obtaining flavoured vape products. Ironically, this is what had started the EVALI outbreak to begin with.