Reply #36: Marijuana was decriminalized in New York City - [View All]

[Mike K]

- throughout the 60s and 70s. Possession of less than 55 grams (two ounces) was at most a summons offense but police were discouraged from making marijuana arrests because it diverted them from more important patrol duties. The only real exception was sale to minors, which remained a Class-B felony (good for five years in the slam). There were ordinances against general sale and public use, but Thompson Square Park was home to petty dealers who sold small quantities and rolled joints discreetly to adults and the police paid no attention to them or to the stoners sitting around, smoking weed, chatting or playing chess.

The original Feenjon coffee shop (which eventually became a commercialized tourist joint) was located on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Barrow Street. It had a Middle Eastern atmosphere and when Arabic music wasn't piped through a speaker there was a three piece dumbeg and Bazuki group playing it live. And while the proprietor didn't sell marijuana (a la some Netherlands coffee shops) just about everybody in the Feenjon after midnight was openly passing a pocket pipe or smoking a joint, some while sitting at a window table and visible to anyone walking by -- including the cops, who paid no attention.

It was a peaceful, pleasurable, wonderful atmosphere and the fact that it no longer is allowed to exist is testimony to the pathologically authoritarian nature of American society.