KINGSTON, N.Y. — The city’s marijuana panel is considering uses for projected tax revenue from legal sales that would include helping formerly incarcerated people, education and youth programs.
The city’s Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act Task Force worked on a draft letter detailing spending recommendations for future cannabis tax revenue at a workshop meeting on Thursday.
The letter, in its draft stage, went through a variety of ideas, grouped under the principle that the taxes levied from cannabis sales would help to undo the effects of prohibition.
Task force members said that the funds should be used to help the formerly incarcerated reintegrate into society through investments in housing, stipends for formerly incarcerated individuals who are seeking employment, funding re-entry and restorative justice programs and funding vocational training.
They also outlined in their letter funding for an education campaign that would clarify to residents the regulations surrounding cannabis sales and safe usage in addition to a map that would show where cannabis storefronts could be placed.
The letter also said the funds be used for youth programs like school trips and free daycare and investments in citywide public transit, something the task force had said previously could stifle instances of people driving under the influence of cannabis.
Additionally, they said the funds should be used for mobile mental health units in Kingston along with psychosis care and…
