By ERROL LOUIS
President Ronald Reagan often told a joke about a psychologist who takes a little boy into a room that is piled to the ceiling with manure. To the doctor’s shock, the child dives into the fetid pile and starts happily digging with his bare hands, explaining to the startled grownup: “There must be a pony in here somewhere!”
That punch line — a wry warning about the limits of optimism — reminds me of the politicians driving New York’s headlong charge into full marijuana legalization.
There might be a pony in here somewhere. But it could also just be a stinking pile of crap.
Too many city and state officials don’t have answers — and rarely seem curious about — basic questions of how to safeguard public health and safety after legalization. We don’t have firm answers about how to determine safe dosages, labeling and licensing that must accompany the legal sale of pot over the counter.