It is chapter 7-A of the Consolidated Laws of New York, and was originally enacted by the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act on March 31, 2021 but has since been amended.
[1][2] In January, 2018, the New York State Assembly Standing Committees on Codes, Health, and Alcohol and Drug Abuse opened public hearings on a reintroduced bill.
[4] The bill "stalled" in April, without sufficient Senate support, and was not included in the acts for the annual state budget.
[18] The law also expands the state's existing medical marijuana program, allowing doctors greater discretion to prescribe cannabis to patients without needing to cite a specific state-defined qualifying condition.
[21] Support from the bill in 2019 came from civil rights groups, citing racial inequities stemming from the War on Drugs.
[22] The district attorneys of Albany County and New York County (Manhattan), David Soares and Cyrus Vance Jr., published an op-ed in the New York Daily News supporting the bill, citing its correction of racial injustice and the freeing up of finite law enforcement resources for other matters.
[24] Opposition in 2019 came from the out-of-state organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana who spent $10,000 on billboards criticizing legislators who promoted the bill.