I thought we had a thread just on NY state's troubles, but maybe not, this will do.
ReasonThe Times story, which opens with the stark numerical contrast between those two categories of marijuana suppliers, later takes a stab at a more positive spin: "New York now has more licensed recreational dispensaries than any state on the East Coast except Massachusetts." But even that is not true.
Maine, where voters approved legalization in 2016, has 139 recreational dispensaries, serving a population less than a tenth as big as New York's. New Jersey, with a population less than half as big as New York's, has 101 recreational dispensaries two years after legal sales began.
Connecticut, which legalized recreational marijuana the same year as New York, has 28 dispensaries serving that market—nearly twice as many per capita. Maryland, which legalized marijuana in 2022, has 101 dispensaries that serve recreational consumers as well as patients. Maryland's population is less than one-third the size of New York's. Even tiny Rhode Island—which has a population one-twentieth as big as New York's, legalized marijuana a year later, and has just half a dozen recreational dispensaries—still has more per capita.
New York's population is almost three times as big as the population of Massachusetts, where legal recreational sales began in November 2018. Massachusetts has nearly 400 licensed dispensaries. That's roughly six authorized retailers per 100,000 residents, compared to about 0.4 per 100,000 in New York.
If you consider the situation in other regions of the country, New York's pitiful number of licensed dispensaries looks even worse. Colorado, where the first recreational outlets opened in 2014, now has 670, or about 11 per 100,000 residents. Oregon, where legal recreational sales began the same year, has more than 800 licensed outlets, about 19 per 100,000 Oregonians.
Both of those states, of course, had a jump on New York, approving legalization in 2012 and 2014, respectively. But New Mexico legalized recreational marijuana the same year as New York, and it has more than 1,000 dispensaries, serving a population one-tenth as big as New York's.
Any way you cut it, New York has done a terrible job of getting licensed dispensaries up and running.
why is it so hard to understand that excessive taxes, regulations and "equity" are bad for, well, everyone and everything?
