(NCPR) Three and a half years after New York State legalized recreational marijuana, the taxes from cannabis sales are starting to bear fruit.
The state's Office of Cannabis Management is accepting grant proposals for a $5 million community reinvestment program funded by those cannabis sales. The grants will go to nonprofits that serve young people 24 years and under and target mental health, workforce development, or housing needs.
The state says the goal is to distribute the funds to "areas of the state that have been historically under-resourced, underserved, and over-policed" and disproportionally affected by draconian drug laws of the past. Each individual grant will be for $100,000.
“If anyone needs another reason why buying cannabis from licensed dispensaries is the best option, here you go,” Tabatha Robison, OCM’s director of economic development, said in a statement about the program. “Every dollar spent in a legal shop contributes to the important work of reinvesting in communities harmed by prohibition.”
One of the reasons the state legislature passed marijuana legalization in 2021 was the promise of tax revenues that could be used to fund a range of state programs. But the belabored rollout of legal cannabis dispensaries around the state — and the proliferation of illegal ones — has slowed that promise from becoming a reality.
