Abstract for: Getting High in New York State: the challenges and opportunities of cannabis legalization

New York State recently legalized recreational cannabis for public consumption. The “roll-out” has been fraught with challenges, including an uncertain policy environment, legislative guidance that produced numerous lawsuits, and guidelines that prioritized social equity but were widely un-implementable. In an era of widespread support for access to cannabis, the challenges are instructive; during a time when we will likely need to restructure markets to meet sustainable development needs, it is also a fascinating look at the ways in which we might get market liberalization right…or very wrong. We find that there is frequently inadequate data available to judge market conditions, for example. Moreover, as recreational cannabis has become more acceptable, evidence suggests that the illegal market for marijuana has flourished, while there has been lax enforcement of unlicensed operations. Moreover, a layered taxing scheme in states has often driven up the cost of legal cannabis, making it far more expensive than what is available from unlicensed operations. This short hybrid approach – a practitioner-academic partnership of sorts – utilizes causal loop mapping to explore the impacts of New York’s policy efforts. We conclude with some policy recommendations, and propose a research agenda that merges approaches to facilitate more robust practitioner conversations.