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Albany (AP) - After years of dispute, the parliament of the US state of New York paved the way for the legalization of marijuana.
The House of Commons in Albany passed a corresponding bill on Tuesday evening (local time) with 100 to 49 votes.
Hours earlier, the Senate had also approved it with 40 to 23 votes.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has yet to sign the law, described it as "pointing the way" after it was passed.
The measure creates jobs and, above all, "remedies the injustice of decades of law that was disproportionately directed against non-whites," wrote the Speaker of the House of Commons, Carl E. Heastie, on Twitter.
The main reason for legalization is the fight against structural racism: the current cannabis legislation in New York had discriminated against non-whites.
Although consumption is more or less evenly distributed, blacks were many times more likely to be arrested for marijuana offenses.
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After Cuomo signs the law, New York, with a population of almost 20 million - and the metropolis of the same name - becomes the 15th US state to allow marijuana for free use.
According to estimates, this could create a billion-dollar market in the coming years, generating $ 350 million a year in additional tax revenue.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210331-99-36856 / 2
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