Oneida residents search extra info on native affect of marijuana legalization | Native Information

Oneida, NY – Oneida city residents and officials gathered recently to ask questions about how the state’s new marijuana legalization law will affect the city and what control they have over it from a community perspective.

In addition, officials considered the potential economic benefits or losses of participating in or opting out of certain marijuana-related opportunities.

The briefing was chaired by attorney Stacy Marris of Costello Cooney & Fearon law firm, a consultancy that works with the city. City attorney Nadine Bell also joined the conversation, along with Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood and Oneida City Police Chief John Little.

The city is trying to better understand the laws and systems of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), which was signed into law by NYS on March 31, 2021. It creates the Cannabis Act, an entirely new legal system under state law, and changes many other existing laws, including the Penal Code, Public Health Act, Tax Law, and Labor Law.

Much remains to be clarified, officials say, and more information, clarification and determination is awaited from the state. Right now, it is important for communities to understand this new reality in order to be prepared for upcoming deadlines and decisions as parts of the MRTA will be introduced gradually over time. For example, actual commercial sales of cannabis are not expected until at least 2022.

Right now, cannabis is essentially regulated in the same way as tobacco, Marris explained. Adults aged 21 and over can now own, consume, transfer (without compensation) up to 3 ounces of cannabis and up to 24 grams of concentrated cannabis, etc. If you want to smoke the plant, you can do so wherever tobacco smoking is permitted.

Local governments can continue to crack down on where weed smoking is allowed, but Marris warned that tobacco and weed laws must be examined together. one should not be excluded without the other.

Local communities, including counties, can also enact and enforce certain regulations regarding home growing and possession of cannabis. However, these governments cannot completely ban or prohibit either. Growing the plant yourself is currently not forbidden; the state has yet to enact regulations.

Some participants in the meeting asked about their rights as employers and what changes could be made to their employment policies regarding cannabis use if they felt it necessary.

For the public, any violation of cannabis smoking restrictions generally carries a civil penalty of up to US $ 25 or a community service of no more than 20 hours; a punishment equivalent to a slap on the wrist, residents said at the meeting. Attitudes towards marijuana are changing with this law in ways that are not intended to demonize the use of the substance. Weed is legal now and people will smoke it.

“Whether you are okay with legalizing marijuana or disagreeing with marijuana legalization, at this point you are kind of barking at the storm,” observed Little. Marijuana is already legal. The next steps are to understand the local impact and what legal rights are available to ensure everyone is safe, educated and treated fairly, he said. “It’s about transparency,” he said of the meeting.

Those who wish to participate in cannabis cultivation, distribution, sales and more must be licensed through the Office of Cannabis Management. Local governments must be notified at least 30 days prior to submitting their application to the state.

Although municipalities do not have the power to directly refuse or refuse certain license applications (although they can refuse approval of two specific licenses in their territory. More on this below), they can, however, give an opinion to the Office of Cannabis Management for or against the present application . This opinion will be put on record and the cannabis control authority must provide the municipality with a written response detailing how their opinion was taken into account in deciding whether to approve or reject the license application.

Bell expressed concern about this process. “You really have taken all control and put it in the hands of a few,” she said.

The MRTA is largely a state law, which means that governments below this level have little power. However, cities, towns and villages have more control over the regulations than counties.

While there won’t be much legal local control, there will be economic opportunities, particularly a 4% excise tax that goes to counties and municipalities. The State Comptroller receives the revenue from cannabis sales and distributes it to the county, which retains 25% of the 4%. The rest is sent to the municipalities within the district in relation to the points of sale.

City officials will be pleased to learn that there are still no regulations in place restricting what local governments can spend their cannabis revenues on.

However, the municipalities must decide whether they want to have access to this income and at the same time allow the activities associated with it. Local governments have until December 31, 2021 to either agree or deny approval of adult retail cannabis pharmacies and / or local cannabis use licenses in their jurisdiction by enacting local law. If they opt out of the law, they will not receive any income from local cannabis sales tax.

“We really need to move forward in the direction we are going,” noted Carrie Earl, Councilor for Ward 1. “[Our decision] also depends on the neighboring communities, do they do that? “

Depending on trends in the region, opting out for Oneida could mean more lost sales than just cannabis-related, Earl speculated.

Overall, what are the benefits of either signing up or signing out? And what do the residents of Oneida want? Several attendees at the meeting were delighted with the cannabis opportunities, although they were a little overwhelmed with keeping up with the changes and regulations. Others weren’t so sure.

This is so new, officials agreed, and there will likely be a lot of growing pains.

Earl says she’ll do her research in the future, listen to the views of her constituents, and likely talk to the city attorney a lot. “Because our hands are tied in some things. We have to know what we can do and what we can’t change if we do this.”

Much of the information provided in this article was provided by the law firm Costello Cooney & Fearon.