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: Early this week New York was poised to join 14 other states that have legalised marijuana in the US after lawmakers reached a deal to allow sales of the drug for recreational use. A vote in the state legislature was expected as MoneyWeek went to press. The legislation paves the way for a potential “$4.2bn industry that could create tens of thousands of jobs and become one of the largest markets in the country”, says Luis Ferré-Sadurni in The New York Times. It has taken years to reach an agreement. Although Democrats have had a veto-proof majority in the state legislature since 2018, Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) has long opposed legalisation, describing marijuana as a “gateway drug”. Critics say his sudden about-turn conveniently deflected attention from recent political scandals; many observers were “astonished” by the concessions Cuomo was “willing to make”. These included dropping his
