Study examines potential impact of New York’s cannabis law on underserved communities

Congratulations to Kelly Patterson, PhD, associate professor in the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, on the publication of her latest paper, “Don’t fear the reefer? The social equity and community planning implications of New York’s recreational cannabis law on underserved communities,” in Journal of Policy Practice and Research.

Robert Silverman, PhD, professor of urban and regional planning in the UB School of Architecture and Planning, led the study, with Patterson and School of Social Work alumna Samantha Williams, MSW ’21, as co-authors.

In 2021, New York State passed the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA). The Act legalized adult-use recreational cannabis and allowed for its production, distribution and retail sale in licensed businesses. It also included social and economic equity provisions that provided for the expungement of cannabis-related criminal records and for access to cannabis business licenses to underserved minority applicants and communities disproportionally impacted by the war on drugs.

This article asks if, under its current structure and implementation, MRTA is positioned to achieve its social and economic equity goals. The methods for the analysis are two-pronged. First, literature on recreational cannabis legalization is examined to understand the effects of this type of policy on underserved communities. This metaanalysis focuses on urban planning and land-use challenges associated with cannabis legalization. Second, demographic characteristics of communities that opt in to MRTA are compared to those that opt out in order to gain insights into how the geography of cannabis businesses relates to the law’s core social and economic equity goals.

The meta-analysis finds that after legalization, marijuana remains stigmatized and racialized. This has resulted in the clustering of cannabis businesses in disenfranchised Black and brown communities, exacerbating existing health disparities. The statistical analysis of opt-in and opt-out patterns indicates that similar patterns of clustering are emerging in New York. The findings from the analysis are used to generate recommendations to strengthen social and economic equity outcomes from the implementation of recreational cannabis policy in New York.