Why Cynthia Nixon’s pro-marijuana video matters for New York

On Wednesday, Cynthia Nixon took to Twitter to pledge her support for legalizing recreational marijuana in New York.

Nixon, who is running for governor, centered her argument on the fact that people of color are disproportionately arrested for marijuana-related crimes. “For me it comes down to this: We have to stop putting people of color in jail for something that white people do with impunity,” Nixon said. She went on to point out that legalizing marijuana would also generate hundreds of millions in tax revenue.

A lot of you have been asking about my position on marijuana. Here it is. pic.twitter.com/iEKLHgClFN

— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) April 11, 2018

“If there was more political courage coming out of Albany, we would have done this already,” Nixon said, presumably taking aim at Governor Cuomo’s stance on the issue. Cuomo has long been opposed to legalizing recreational marijuana, and only this year opted to launch a study of how legalizing marijuana would impact New York.

Now that Nixon has laid bare her position on legalization, let’s see how much longer Cuomo refers to marijuana as a “gateway drug.”