The smoke clears: How Gov. Hochul’s cannabis regulators should approach their new jobs

Accomplishing in a few weeks what it was taking months for Andrew Cuomo to get around to, Gov. Hochul filled openings atop the state’s new legal-marijuana bureaucracy. Former Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright will chair New York’s Cannabis Control Board, and ex-Drug Policy Alliance staffer Christopher Alexander will run the Office of Cannabis Management.

Both Wright and Alexander are Black, and both have long track records of urging government to expunge low-level convictions, as well as to ensure that populations harmed by punishing old laws get in on the ground floor of a promising new industry. We enthusiastically support both those priorities. The fact that pot arrests, prosecutions and convictions hit already disadvantaged communities hardest, despite them using the substance in rates no greater than whites, was the best reason for ending prohibition.

What Wright and Alexander will have to avoid as they put fairness first and get growing and selling up and running is becoming cheerleaders of a drug that still has the capacity to do serious harm when abused, especially the high-potency cannabis that’s increasingly available. (No, we’re not talking reefer madness; other negative health effects are real.)

The state agency “has the ability to regulate the concentration, serving size, types, and forms of cannabis products which may be manufactured or processed.” The pot-o-crats must be conservative.

As businesses promote their wares aggressively, Wright and Alexander must ensure that the law, which specifies the legal toke age at 21, means what it says. Pot is bad for the adolescent brain; the wide availability of cigarettes, vaping and alcohol are all cautionary tales. They’ll need to stay on top of the best ways for police to spot people driving while under the influence of marijuana; evidence from other states suggests impaired driving could soon become a bigger problem here.

In short, Alexander and Wright must behave more like the liquor or tobacco control authorities than craft beer or wine or tobacco enthusiasts. “Legalize it” is catchier than “regulate it,” but the latter is their job now.