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CityAndStateNY.com
January 17, 2022
The toke of the town Hundreds of cities and villages across the state opted out pot sales and smoking lounges. Are they wise for waiting, or will they miss the tax money going to their neighbors?
By Rebecca C. Lewis
Pot sales might be lucrative, and being first could be an advantage.
CREDIT
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HE NEW YEAR has come and passed, washing away the weariness of 2021 and replacing it with a fresh coating of hope. And with it also passed the deadline for localities to opt out of recreational cannabis sales and consumption sites. Between pot’s legalization at the end of March last year and Dec. 31, villages, towns and cities had the opportunity to weigh their options and decide whether or not they would permit dispensaries and marijuana lounges in their communities. And in true town and village fashion, the decisions made by local councils and boards prove that old maxim that all politics is local. A total of 1,521 municipalities around the state had the option to opt out before the deadline, from major metropolises like New York City to tiny villages like Weedsport. Of those, nearly 750 chose not to allow dispensaries within their borders, with about 100 more disallowing on-site consumption businesses, according to a database compiled by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. The decisions made by town councils and village boards across New York don’t impact the legality of cannabis itself within the municipalities’ borders, but preventing sales and locations akin to bars could greatly diminish the drug’s presence in a community, especially in isolated places or when surrounding neighborhoods took similar action. The number of towns and villages that opted out is rather significant, but that’s likely due in part to the fact that while the law established a deadline to disallow sales, it allows local lawmakers to change their minds whenever they want in order to permit dispensaries and consumption lounges. The town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County is one place where local lawmakers remain open to opting in
