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Dr. Torian Easterling is senior vice president of population and community health and chief strategy and innovation officer at One Brooklyn Health and former first deputy commissioner and chief equity officer for the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In 2023, New York's legal cannabis industry brought in nearly $16.3 million in revenue, a figure that is expected to grow significantly as more dispensaries open across the state and the market matures.
This revenue will help support needed infrastructure, especially in towns that have “opted in” to allow adult-use dispensaries to open. This revenue will also help strengthen the state's economy, which is one of the primary goals of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA).
But as it stands, this revenue comes without a clear plan to support another of the MRTA's goals: reinvesting in communities most harmed by cannabis prohibition.
Most of New York's efforts, correctly speaking, are centered on individuals and families convicted of cannabis-related crimes, prioritizing those most affected and expanding their access to the dispensary application process.
But the individuals and families harmed by cannabis prohibition outnumber those who would be approved or willing to open and operate legal cannabis dispensaries thousands of times more than we must ensure we do more to right the injustices that cannabis prohibition has inflicted on Black and Brown communities.
One way to achieve this is to establish programs that invest revenue from the legal cannabis industry specifically in the neighborhoods and communities most affected by the racial discrimination that continues to be entangled in drug policy.
New York wants to be a leader, but it can lead the way and potentially learn from other states, following the success stories of other states that have invested cannabis revenues in specific areas.
Minnesota has committed to investing $15 million in communities most affected by cannabis prohibition, and while the funding won't be released until 2026, the legal framework could be replicated in our state.
And in Evanston, Illinois, the city has drafted a “reparatory real estate transfer tax” in which revenues from two dispensaries would be distributed to individuals affected by the “harm of slavery and systemic racism.”
Reinvesting this cannabis revenue in targeted communities would not only eliminate racial wealth disparities, but it would also have a direct impact on racial health disparities. According to Bassett and Galea, the evidence suggests that reparations, or community reinvestment, should be a public health priority and could help eliminate racial health disparities.
In New York, cannabis revenues could be used to develop affordable housing, an issue the state has already tied to health outcomes, and other experts have suggested revenues could be reinvested in mental health services such as mobile psychiatric crisis units.
Providing psychiatric crisis units and experienced peer navigators in communities harmed by cannabis prohibition would be a long-term investment in a critical area of public health that is most often underfunded, or, more simply, the revenue could be used to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates and improve care for Medicaid patients or provide needed funding for safety net hospitals in Black and Brown communities.
New York’s cannabis tax revenues have the potential to be a significant and much-needed source of support, but to achieve the MRTA’s goals, this revenue cannot be distributed evenly.
New York State must be intentional about its reinvestment strategy to reduce both racial wealth and health disparities. This must be a priority as our elected officials allocate funds beginning with the first year of levy.
