New York Moves Toward Legal Marijuana With Health Dept. Endorsement

Ms. Hitt added that Ms. Nixon has also called for expunging people's records of marijuana-related offenses. "We must go further," Ms. Hitt said.

Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the Cuomo campaign, shot back at Ms. Nixon, who is trailing Mr. Cuomo by a large margin. "The governor ordered this study in January," she said. "Even if her campaign is in freefall, Cynthia Nixon doesn't get to just make things up."

Mr. Cuomo's Republican opponent, Marcus Molinaro, also criticized Mr. Zucker's announcement, saying the governor was "sprinting to the left" because of Ms. Nixon. "There are serious questions to be answered about marijuana," said Katy Delgado, Mr. Molinaro's spokeswoman. "They should be answered by serious people without a political agenda."

Mr. Frederique, of the Drug Policy Alliance, said that any state policy on recreational marijuana should also address the fallout from its old policies, including New Yorkers who had suffered consequences in housing, employment, child care and immigration because they were tainted by a marijuana arrest.

"How are we going to center the communities most impacted?" Ms. Frederique asked. "And how are we going to repair the harm in a way that's as comprehensive as the damage that was done?"

The commissioner's comments come as the New York City mayor and police commissioner prepare to unveil a new marijuana enforcement policy on Tuesday after convening a 30-day working group to review the issue last month.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has directed the Police Department to come up with a policy to "end unnecessary arrests," and the police commissioner, James P. O'Neill, has conceded that at least some arrests "have no impact on public safety."

In New York City, black people were arrested on low-level marijuana charges at eight times the rate of white people over the last three years. The Police Department has blamed the disparity on complaints from residents about marijuana, but a New York Times analysis found that among neighborhoods where people called to complain about marijuana at the same rate, the police almost always made arrests at a higher rate in the area with more black residents.

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