Lately we have been getting a good piece of news every week. We already told you about legalisation in Mexico, Morocco and Canada, and today New York joins the list by giving the green light to recreational cannabis. To celebrate, at the end of the article we have left you a round-up of cannabis songs.
Cannabis songs to celebrate legalisation in New York
It was only a matter of time: the city in the world where the most cannabis gets smoked is a few steps away from letting its residents grow their own plants. The relationship between this beast of 8 million people and the holy plant goes way back, with a long history of activism and cultural celebration that kicked off in the twenties and thirties, when a good chunk of the city's jazz scene started dedicating lyrics to it and standing up for the rights of the people smoking it.
Over the last decade NY has seriously eased off on cannabis enforcement and possession arrests have been falling year after year. Smoking a joint out on the street has always been illegal, but the atmosphere is a very different one from a few years back. One sign that things were softening was the law that came in on 1 September banning arrests for consumption.
Governor Andrew Cuomo had been against legalisation because he saw cannabis as the gateway to other drugs, but it looks like he had a rethink once he spotted the gold mine in tax revenue. Since 2015, carrying less than 25 grams is no longer grounds for arrest; going over that could still land you in serious trouble. Experts predict 1.4 billion dollars in revenue for the whole state, of which 400 million would come from the city alone.
The government also launched a study into the upsides and risks of legalisation among adults and, to the surprise of many, it concluded that legalising was not directly linked to higher use of drugs or tobacco. More than that: it suggested it could help reduce the racial disparities in police arrests that have always been so controversial. The measure has plenty of backing in both chambers, so it should not run into any major trouble. We are going to light a few candles and cross our fingers: even if it does not affect us directly, it is one more step for the rest of the countries that see it the same way.
New Yorkers have been pushing to legalise it for a very long time, and music has played a key part. We want to pay tribute to some of the musicians who stood up for the holy plant in their lyrics.
3 cannabis songs to celebrate legalisation
Muggles, by Louis Armstrong (1928)
Jazz was the great driver of cannabis activism, in New York and around the world. Musicians like Louis Armstrong gave a voice to what thousands of smokers were thinking. Muggles has no lyrics, but its message is right there in the title: that is what joints were called back then. The name and the groove of the legendary trumpeter conjure up the smoky joints of the twenties and thirties.
Sweet Leaf, by Black Sabbath (1971)
The four members of Black Sabbath looked for inspiration in cannabis and were among the first contemporary bands to hold absolutely nothing back in their lyrics. The title says it all: it is basically a declaration of love to the plant sung by an unhinged Ozzy Osbourne, and one of the most legendary tracks in the fight for weed.
Legalize It, by Peter Tosh (1976)
This track by the legendary Jamaican is, for many, the great anthem of legalisation. Bob Marley usually gets all the praise, but Tosh started defending weed in his lyrics earlier. The two of them played together in the Wailers, but Tosh left the band (among other things because he accused it of going too Western) and released Legalize It. The rest is cannabis history.
So what did you make of these tracks and how happy are you about legalisation in NY? We are already hunting for tickets to cross the pond and get properly high.
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