New York's marijuana law can finally reverse the drug war's harm It took years, but the state's new law should be a model for the rest of the country.

New York's marijuana law can finally reverse the drug war's harm

It took years, but the state's new law should be a model for the rest of the country.

Anjali Nair / MSNBC; Getty Images

April 2, 2021, 5:31 AM EDT

“By Hayes Brown, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

New York City isn't usually so late to trends. It's been 25 years since California first legalized marijuana for medical use. Almost nine years have passed since Colorado and Washington became the first states to make recreational cannabis legal. But residents of the fourth-largest state, home to the biggest city in the country, and one of the most progressive, had to watch as 13 other states and Washington, D.C., followed suit.

That changed Wednesday, when Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally signed a long-awaited bill to create a recreational marketplace for weed in the state. And given how much the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act does to erase decades of injustice, it was absolutely worth the wait.”