On March 31st, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Marihuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) and, in doing so, New York joins 14 other states in which the recreational use of small amounts of cannabis has already been legalized. L. 2021, Ch. 92, eff. March 31, 2021. In changing existing marihuana laws, the legislature attempted to correct what it viewed as a wasteful use of law enforcement resources that disproportionately had an impact on the lives of minority communities.

The MRTA establishes the Office of Cannabis Management, the Cannabis Control Board, and a 13-member Advisory Board; all of these entities will regulate, control, license and eventually oversee the retail marihuana industry in New York. This column, however, will review aspects of the new law that relate to the criminal justice system: changes in criminal penalties, automatic expungement and sealing of certain convictions; the vacatur of other convictions; the impact on searches of automobiles; and the effect on impaired driving cases.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]