The Bronx Defenders and The Bronx Community Foundation, along with U.S. senate majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), and Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, joined Bronx community leaders on Sunday, July 24, to announce the launch of The Bronx Cannabis Hub. Advocates included the Drug Policy Alliance, Mothers on the Move, 1 Freedom For All, TakeRoot Justice, and All That Jive NYC.

 

The launch follows a Bronx Cannabis Forum held last month, as reported, which aimed to tackle various open questions surrounding the emerging cannabis market in New York State, further to the passage last year of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA). The forum was overseen by a panel of experts, government officials and legislators, and attended by various interested parties.

 

The Bronx Cannabis Hub is a new resource designed to give Bronx residents, who advocates say have been harmed by decades of cannabis prohibition, the means to participate in the new, legal cannabis industry. A project of The Bronx Defenders, in partnership with The Bronx Community Foundation, the Hub also aims to work in coalition with Bronx-based community organizations to educate, engage, and advocate for Bronxites in the cannabis industry.

 

“As public defenders, we have seen first-hand the impact marijuana criminalization and its racist enforcement by the NYPD has had on the people in The Bronx,” said Justine Olderman, executive director of The Bronx Defenders. “For decades, a single marijuana arrest could result in a person losing their job, healthcare, home, and even separation from their children and deportation from their families.”

 

Olderman added, “Now that cannabis is legal, a new economy is taking shape, and the communities most harmed by this failed drug war must be at the forefront. We are proud to join The Bronx Community Foundation and our other partners today to launch The Bronx Cannabis Hub, a new resource that will provide critical training, guidance, and legal support to turn historical harm into economic opportunity.”

 

Together, the various advocates say they have spent decades fighting for cannabis legalization and undoing what they say are the decades of harm caused by its criminalization.

 

Desmon Lewis, co-counder of The Bronx Community Foundation, said communities of color in The Bronx have suffered disproportionately from the harms of cannabis prohibition, from arrest and incarceration to job loss and eviction. “The Bronx Community Foundation is proud to partner with The Bronx Defenders on The Bronx Cannabis Hub, a first-of-its-kind initiative that will right some of these historic wrongs, by helping our communities to participate in the new, legal cannabis industry,” he said.

 

Lewis added, “In doing so, The Hub will further The Foundation’s goals of advancing neighborhood stability, solving systemic and institutional challenges, and building generational wealth.”

 

The Hub will also launch a clinic in partnership with cannabis legal expert, Cristina Buccola, Esq., in tandem with pro bono law firms and with support from the New York Cannabis Project, to assist eligible candidates with the licensing process and create educational programming.

 

“We are thrilled to see the launch of the Bronx Cannabis Hub as a true community resource supporting social equity in New York’s legal cannabis landscape,” said Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “During the decade-long fight to pass the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act we were clear that the people and communities most impacted by devastating enforcement of the marijuana arrest crusade should be those to benefit from the legal industry.”

 

“The Bronx Cannabis Hub will be a crucial part of fulfilling that shared vision and opening up opportunities and venues for community members – especially those who have been directly impacted – to thrive in New York’s new green era,” Frederique added.

 

When New York passed the MRTA last year, it legalized production, distribution and adult, recreational cannabis use (for those over the age of 21), and paved the way for a regulated cannabis industry in New York. Up to three ounces of cannabis for personal use is allowed, including possession of up to five pounds of cannabis in the home.

 

Advocates of MRTA say the legislation serves to repair the historical harms of cannabis prohibition and guarantees fair and equitable access to the new cannabis economy in three distinct ways:

• automatic expungement of past cannabis convictions;
• community investment (40 percent of tax revenue from cannabis sales invested back into communities disproportionately impacted by cannabis arrests); and
• social equity in licensing.

 

Social equity in licensing means that those most harmed by the war on cannabis should be first in line to get licenses to participate in the new, legal market.

 

“The Bronx Cannabis Hub will catalyze a new generation of cannabis entrepreneurs in a borough that bore the burdens and injustices of the War on Drugs. It is an example for New York and the nation – paving the way for communities and individuals to seize the opportunity for renewal marijuana reform provides,” said Schumer.

 

New York is now set to start issuing licenses, and the State has made clear that the first 100-200 retail dispensary licenses (Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary or “CAURD licenses”) will be reserved for individuals who have a cannabis-related arrest, or who have a close family member with such an arrest.

 

Nonetheless, the application process is complicated, and government officials said there are bad actors who have emerged to take advantage of this by charging exorbitant fees and entering into predatory contract agreements. After consulting with community groups, staff, elected officials, and coalitions in this space, they said it became clear that for these social equity provisions to work, there needs to be non-predatory resources and support to help Bronxites apply for these licenses.

 

Rivera also welcomed the move. “I am so proud that respected, trusted Bronx leaders are stepping up to provide free application assistance for cannabis licenses. The Bronx is deeply impacted by overcriminalization and aggressive enforcement of a failed war on drugs, so it’s high time that our community benefit first from economic opportunities in the cannabis economy.” He added, “I’m thrilled to support these efforts to ensure that justice-involved and impacted community members can obtain licenses and generate wealth for our neighborhoods.”

 

One of the first orders of business for the Hub will be to help screen potential candidates for eligibility for the CAURD licenses. On Wednesday, July 20, the Bronx Community Hub held its first educational webinar to discuss how to navigate applying for a license and explaining how the Hub plans to support Bronx-based community leaders to keep the state accountable.

 

As reported, the recently created Office of Cannabis Management means business when it comes to enforcement also, especially when it comes to testing. On July 7, it publicly identified 52 illicit cannabis stores that were sent cease and desist letters, directing them to stop all illicit cannabis sales in the State. Officials said, “These stores falsely depict their operations as legal cannabis dispensaries, but they are not licensed by New York State and are selling untested products that put public health at risk.”

 

Under MRTA, a proficiency test (PT) means a test that requires a laboratory to produce analytical results within acceptable limits on an analyte or group of analytes, of which the concentration and identity is unknown to the laboratory or its employees but known to a proficiency test provider.

 

“Analyte” means a contaminant, chemical and/or physical property, element, compound, organism, or group of any of the foregoing, the existence and amount of which a laboratory testing facility tests for or identifies in a sample [of cannabis]. According to Aspen Recovery Center, cannabis mixed with other depressants [like heroin] can be fatal or cause serious health complications.

 

Last year, Norwood News provided an overview of the MRTA, including how its enforcement will work and the impact on those who may attempt to drive while under the influence of cannabis.

 

Meanwhile, Gibson appears pleased with the progress being made to date on the burgeoning industry, saying, “Once underground, the cannabis industry is coming into the light, and it is important that our borough take full advantage of the social and economic benefits to our communities. I want to thank The Bronx Defenders and The Bronx Community Foundation for putting equity and social justice in the forefront through their launch of The Bronx Cannabis Hub to educate and empower our residents through this process.”

 

She added, “The legalization of cannabis is a first step towards undoing the damage caused by years of disproportionate mass incarceration and prosecution of Black and Hispanic New Yorkers, who have suffered under unfair drug laws and policies in our country.”