Peekskill NAACP Hosts Forum On Legalizing Marijuana

FROM THE NAACP

On Saturday, June 8, the Peekskill chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will host a public forum at Field Library-Nutrition Room about marijuana regulation, featuring a corrections officer, school board parent, and addiction treatment expert.

Advocates are pushing for the passage of the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (S1527 / A1617) before the end of the state legislative session. New York has the opportunity to lead on establishing a national model of equitable and just legalization should look like by creating a taxed and regulated adult-use marijuana market that not only creates economic opportunities for all New Yorkers but addresses the harms of decades of prohibition.

What: Cannabis Forum: An educational panel discussion on marijuana legalization in NY and what it should look like

When: Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 10:00 am to 12:00 pm ET

Where: Field Library-Nutrition Room, 4 Nelson Avenue, Peekskill, NY

Speakers: Vanessa Agudelo, Peekskill NAACP Environmental Climate Justice Committee Chair and Peekskill City Councilperson; Damon K. Jones, Blacks in Law Enforcement and Publisher of Black Westchester; Nelson Guerrero, Executive Director of the Cannabis Cultural Association; Steven Rabinowitz, Vice President of Families for Sensible Drug Policy and addiction treatment professional; Lisa Tane, school board member; Saad Siddiqui, Ferrante & Siddiqui, LLP. and Chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the Westchester County Bar Association

Hosts: Peekskill NAACP, Office of Peekskill City Councilperson Vanessa Agudelo, and Start SMART NY coalition (Sensible Marijuana Access through Regulated Trade)

Support for legalization has long been established in the Empire State. The Governor, State Senate, and Assembly have all said they support marijuana legalization and legalizing marijuana with a social justice focus has already been identified as a key issue for the 2020 presidential race. After Long Island, Westchester has the highest ratio of low-level marijuana possession arrests to population.

Start SMART NY is a campaign to end marijuana prohibition and repair the harms to communities convened by the Drug Policy Alliance in partnership with groups dedicated to ending marijuana prohibition.