What Lawyers Need to Know about the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA)

On March 31, 2021, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill passed by the legislature to legalize recreational marijuana in New York state. In this program, speakers will discuss the social equity components of the recently enacted legislation, including:

• Decriminalization
• Social Equity
• Local Municipality Opt-Outs
• Taxation of Adult Use Cannabis
• Cannabis Revenue – Where does it go?
• Businesses and the Workplace – How do these policies affect your business?

Agenda Topics to Include:

• About the end of the prohibition on adult-use marijuana in New York State and how this affects many practice areas automatic expungement of records for people with previous convictions for activities that are no longer criminalized.
• About the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA) and its establishment a new office for the regulation of cannabis and the creation a new Cannabis Law
• How the existing medical cannabis program, and the existing cannabinoid hemp program will be under the control of the newly created Cannabis Control Board (the Board) and the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) which will be placed under the State Liquor Authority (SLA), but the SLA has no involvement with the Cannabis program.
• About the equity programs that will provide loans, grants, and incubator programs to ensure broad opportunities for participation by people from communities that have been disproportionately impacted by marijuana prohibition as well as by small farmers. 
• About funding for training drug recognition officers and expanding traffic safety protections, including the development of roadside testing technology
• About the provisions allowing for localities to opt out of retail sales at the city, town, and village level and the allocation of the 9% sales tax on cannabis.

Speakers

Lynelle K. Bosworth, Esq., Greenburg Traurig, LLP

Dorothy F. Powell, Esq., Senior Counsel. NYS Senate Democratic Conference

Jennifer Richardson, Esq., Capital District Black & Hispanic Bar Association

Robert J. Masters, Esq., Queens County District Attorney’s Office

R. Scott DeLuca, Esq., Kavinoky Cook LLP