In Case You Haven't Heard…

New York State's marijuana dispensary law provided for those most harmed by the drug war to be the first to get licenses to operate dispensaries. This summer it was revealed that the state had made a mistake, not in who it gave licenses to, but in the placement of those dispensaries. Instead of being 500 feet from a school's front door, marijuana dispensaries had to be 500 feet from a school's property line. This discovery prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to order the shutdown of 152 marijuana dispensaries. The outcry was immediate, especially from the advocates such as the NAACP who had worked to get Black people – those most victimized by anti‐marijuana crackdowns – preferential rights to operate the dispensaries. As a result, the state is likely to pull back and not require the closures.