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Medical Marijuana-Hating Assemblyman Now Loves Weed, Took Pot Trip To Colorado
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 10, 2014
Modified Jan 10, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 10, 2014
Modified Jan 10, 2014
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NY State Assemblyman Steve Katz has turned over a new leaf since getting busted for pot possession last year; though he had previously made a name for himself as an anti-medical marijuana crusader, all that MINDBLOWING, SOUL-CRUSHING HYPOCRISY has turned him pro-pot. So much so, in fact, that that he skipped out on Governor Cuomo's State of State for a "research" trip to Colorado, replicating those "cultural studies" trips legions of study abroad students take to Amsterdam's Red Light District instead of writing papers on Le Petit Prince.
According to the Journal News, the Republican Assemblyman headed over to the country's newest Stoner State earlier this week in order to learn about its now-legal marijuana industry. Colorado has reportedly made over $5 million off pot sales since the legalization went into effect just a week ago. "Extrapolate that to New York, where we are so starving for revenue,” Katz told the Journal News. “It could be a real revenue generator for our state. How do you turn that away right now, when every single indicator shows that medical marijuana has compounds that absolutely can help people?"
An excellent question, particularly when posed by someone who voted against legalizing medical marijuana in 2011 and put out a statement advocating for the "struggle against illegal drug culture and the abuse of narcotics" just a few days before he was caught with a small bag of pot during a car stop in Albany. But times have changed, and now Katz advocates full weed legalization, just as Paul the Apostle ceased persecuting Christians back in Biblical days. In Katz's own words: "He had an epiphany on the road to Damascus. In no way am I like St. Paul, but if you look at history, you can see someone who has changed, and acted on those beliefs."
Katz returned from Colorado on Wednesday, after touring marijuana dispensaries and interviewing people looking to buy legal pot, though he says he made no purchases of his own. He got back too late to make it to Cuomo's State of State speech, in which the governor outlined a plan to allow a limited number of hospitals to prescribe medical marijuana.
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