Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes set to open in New York after state moves to legalise drug

A tourist uses the water pipe to enjoy marijuana in a coffeeshop in Amsterdam

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Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes are set to open in New York after state officials reached an agreement to legalise the sale of the drug.

The deal, which is set to be made official next week after it is rubber-stamped by the Senate, would decriminalise recreational marijuana for adults over 21 and allow for personal possession of up to three ounces.

The city would also permit club-like lounges or “consumption sites” where cannabis may be consumed, as well as allow New Yorkers to cultivate up to six plants at home or in their garden for personal use.

Experts say it paves the way for a potential multi-billion dollar industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs and become one of the largest markets in the country when it is expected to come into effect late 2022.

Cafes in NYC provide social distancing bubble for Covid-19 measures

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The governor’s office had previously estimated that legalising cannabis could generate about $350 million (£255m) in yearly tax revenue.

New York is the latest of more than a dozen states, including neighbouring New Jersey, which have legalised the drug.

Nearly 60 per cent of New York residents surveyed said they supported such a decision.

The move comes amid tough financial times for the state, which is struggling with a considerable shortfall in taxes after a number of wealthy residents escaped the city during the pandemic.

Tax revenue from weed sales would first go toward the operations of the Office of Cannabis Management and police officer training to detect impaired driving. 

Forty per cent of the remaining revenue would go toward school aid, another 40 per cent would be put into a fund establishing grants for social equity, and another 20 per cent would go toward drug-treatment and "public education programs".

The deal was crafted with a focus on making amends in communities impacted by the decades-long war on drugs. 

“A percentage of revenue that is raised will get invested into the communities where the people who suffered mass incarceration come from and still live in many cases,” said Crystal Peoples-Stokes, a Democratic Assemblywoman. “For me this is a lot more than about raising revenue: It’s about investing in the lives of the people that have been damaged.”