{"id":102088,"date":"2026-01-16T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102088\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T09:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T09:25:07","slug":"gov-kathy-hochuls-scheme-to-tackle-weed-inequity-reeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/102088\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Kathy Hochul’s scheme to tackle weed ‘inequity’ reeks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike other parts of her State of the State rollout, Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s scheme<\/a> to solve \u201cinequity\u201d in access to medical marijuana was not meant as joke \u2014 yet it surely is.<\/p>\n

Deep in the policy book released with the speech is a plan to open a<\/a> \u201cCenter for Excellence for Cannabis Care and Health Equity\u201d to \u201ctrain clinicians on cannabis pharmacology, evidence-based care, and patient counseling\u201d in minority neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Why? Well: \u201cBlack and Brown neighborhoods in New York tend to have more recreational cannabis dispensaries and fewer medical cannabis dispensaries,\u201d and so \u201care less likely to have access to therapeutic products or even be aware that these medical products exist,\u201d the book reads. <\/p>\n

Huh? <\/p>\n

Medical marijuana may tend to have less THC and more CBD than the average recreational product, but weed is now a multibillion-dollar industry in New York; with a pot shop on every corner<\/a>, there\u2019s something for every taste, purpose and potency preference.<\/p>\n

We have no \u201cskunk scarcity\u201d: A cannabis connoisseur complaining of nausea or pain can get a Willy-Wonka-level variety of options, from salves to mouth sprays to sodas, in virtually any neighborhood in New York.<\/p>\n

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Lack of access to weed isn\u2019t a problem anywhere in the Big Apple, and as shops keep sprouting up statewide, New Yorkers are more likely to be complaining of too much toking, not too little.<\/p>\n

As for training doctors on how to inform patients on safe, effective cannabis use: The politicians already let that cat out of the bag: When the Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo legalized recreational pot, they basically made medical operators obsolete and gave every over-21 adult the ability to self-medicate. <\/p>\n

Seems Hochul is placating the medical-MJ operators (who\u2019d need to pay $20 million fee to legally sell non-medicinal pot), though the \u201cequity\u201d noise suggests this is also a bone to the crowd that\u2019s obsessed with making marijuana legalization a race issue.<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s office brags that her center would be \u201cfirst in the nation,\u201d probably because this lefty lunacy could only be possible in New York. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s an utter boondoggle \u2014 or boondoobie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike other parts of her State of the State rollout, Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s scheme to solve \u201cinequity\u201d in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[304,426,6210,22904,46682,9,24,63,299,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-102088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-editorial","9":"tag-kathy-hochul","10":"tag-marijuana","11":"tag-marijuana-legalization","12":"tag-medical-marijuana","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-opinion","17":"tag-staten-island","18":"tag-staten-island-headlines","19":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}