Brian Mayer on W.N. Y.C. The latest article by New Yorker staff writer Gia Tolantino begins with a kind of hilarious moment in a certain way in which a convicted marijuana dealer named Helen Miller gets a tip from another

person incarcerated with him who happens to be Anthony Wiener.

Yes, that Anthony Wiener, the disgrace former congressman.

Wiener tells Miller in prison that New York State's new legal cannabis law

includes first priority for dispensary licenses for people with marijuana convictions.

Gia calls it a legal weed as reparations program.

That encounter with Anthony Wiener was years ago,

but as you may have noticed, New York still has very few legal dispensaries open.

So the heart of the article is about why, including some of the difficulties of doing legal

cannabis in a more social justice oriented way than any other

state. There are some successes which she also names, some broken dreams of

people who are promised better, some hope for the future, yes.

And even a dispute over whether New York weed

is of lower quality than that in other legal states

because of certain growing rules.

The article was called In The Weeds.

Gia, always good to have you.

Welcome back to WNYC.

It's great to be here, Brian.

Anything more to say about that encounter in prison

between Howell Miller and Anthony Wiener, maybe it changed Miller's thinking about his future or anything else?

Well, Howell Miller, like so many people, you know, frankly, black and brown people who were incarcerated over marijuana he was

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