In Vermont, the governor just signed a law allowing people to consume marijuana recreationally. The newly inaugurated governor of New Jersey has made it clear that he wants weed legalized.
But in neighboring New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- an outspoken opponent of legalized marijuana -- has, well, appointed a task force to study the issue.
State Senator Gustavo Rivera, however, thinks that what is happening in the other states will inevitably lead New York to liberalize its laws.
"When something is legal in one state and not legal in another, you will have people crossing the border to go and get it," Senator Rivera said in an interview Tuesday on Cheddar's weekly "Cannabiz" show. "You see that with firecrackers; they're legal in many states but illegal in others. So certainly it can have an impact on what happens in one state, when people of that state go to another to acquire it, which is why, yes, there is pressure now."
Governor Cuomo has long argued that marijuana was a "gateway drug" that could lead to the use of other, more dangerous drugs. As recently as a year ago, he said, "I am unconvinced on recreational marijuana." His creation of a task force to study the legalization issues suggests that his views have softened, at least somewhat.
But Senator Rivera, a Democrat who represents portions of the Bronx, says the issue is pretty clear-cut. "Many of us are saying let's make sure that we do the right thing in the state of New York, that we push for recreational marijuana to exist in New York. It would be the right thing to do."
For full segment [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/when-will-new-york-legalize-marijuana).
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
It is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.
At Cleveland's Urban Kutz Barbershop, customers can flip through magazines as they wait, or help themselves to drug screening tests left out in a box on a table with a somber message: “Your drugs could contain fentanyl. Please take free test strips.”
President Joe Biden on Thursday condemned a wave of “cruel” and “callous” state legislation curbing the rights, visibility and health care access of LGBTQ+ people, while causing the community to feel under attack for being who they are.
Pat Robertson, a religious broadcaster who turned a tiny Virginia station into the global Christian Broadcasting Network, tried a run for president and helped make religion central to Republican Party politics in America through his Christian Coalition, has died. He was 93.
The Supreme Court on Thursday issued a surprising 5-4 ruling in favor of Black voters in a congressional redistricting case, ordering the creation of a second district with a large Black population.
Mike Pence opened his presidential bid with an unusually forceful critique of former President Donald Trump over Jan. 6, his temperament and abortion on Wednesday as he became the first vice president in modern history to challenge his former running mate.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie wasted no time going after Donald Trump while launching his presidential campaign on Tuesday, calling the former president and current Republican primary front-runner a “lonely, self-consumed, self-serving mirror hog" and arguing that he's the only one who can stop him.
Saying gender identity is real, a federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.
