Revenue from legalized recreational marijuana could help save New York City's aging subway system, some city and state leaders believe.
“The biggest issue we hear about as elected officials is the state of the subway system,” New York City Council speaker Corey Johnson told The New York Times. "To be able to tie these things together is something that could be highly impactful and potentially transformative.”
Making marijuana legal is still up to state lawmakers and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but the odds for approval have grown, now that Democrats have taken full control of the state legislature and Cuomo, who once called marijuana a "gateway drug" appears to have changed his stance.
More than $40 billion is needed to modernize the subways, according to officials. Cuomo has also supported a plan to charge tolls on cars entering the busiest parts of Manhattan as another way to fund the upgrades.
According to a New York University report supporting the idea, legalizing marijuana could bring in up to $670 million annually.
In addition, Mitchell Moss, a NYU transportation expert who wrote the report, noted that public support for marijuana legalization is growing, with more than 62 percent of Americans now supporting it.
Legal sales could not only provide a revenue source for public transportation, but could allow money “with the potential for growth in future decades — one that does not divert funds from other public services.”
Moss also noted that there may be a side benefit for legalizing pot: "Maybe you don’t get so grumpy when the subway doesn’t come."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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