Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said recently that it’s pretty much inevitable that the state will legalize cannabis soon. Because the midterm election forced Cuomo to take a more pro-legalization stance than he had previously, it seems he’s finally committed to making New York a legal state. That said, he seems to think his own legislature might be a difficult barrier.

“You have it in Massachusetts. You’ll probably have it in Jersey. If you have it on both borders, I think the discussion starts to flip,” Cuomo said. Earlier this year he claimed it could “be a close call in the Legislature.”

Doug Greene, the legislative director for NORML’s New York office, told Cannabis News Box that Republicans in the legislature have been the ones blocking cannabis reforms. Now that Democrats have taken control for the first time in a decade, it seems like things might be much easier in terms of cannabis policy.

Greene previously explained to Cannabis News Box that Cuomo was in favor of medical cannabis before this year but was not in favor of legalization. When progressive challenger Cynthia Nixon pushed Cuomo on legalization during this year’s primary, he suddenly became an advocate. It seems he’s still on that path, so advocates have Nixon to thank for that.

Many different aspects of legalization are being discussed right now in New York, including how it should be taxed, racial justice issues, traffic safety and more. Greene said racial justice is one of the big ones currently being discussed, and he said he’s happy about that.

Greene said, “local autonomy, the importance of home grow and how consumption is treated under the Clean Indoor Air Acts” are some other important things being discussed in New York. That act prohibits smoking or vaping in public and private workspaces, so lawmakers have to decide how to handle cannabis use with that law in mind.

It’s looking like the entire Northeast will soon have legal cannabis, and this is surely influencing New York’s decision to move forward. If New York legalizes soon, it will mean another highly populated state like California will have access to social use cannabis. What’s still not clear is if this new Congress will pass a nationwide legalization bill of some kind in the near future. A lot of that will depend on how Trump and this new Congress get along and how he decides to handle drug policy overall.