(New York City) Police Memo on Marijuana Warns Against Some Arrests

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Amid criticism about the way New York City police officers enforce marijuana laws, Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly issued a memo to commanders this week reiterating that officers are not to arrest people who have small amounts of marijuana in their possession unless it is in public view.

The New York Legislature decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana in the 1970s, making possession of 25 grams or less a violation of the law that in most cases would not bring a jail sentence. But possessing even small amounts of marijuana in public view remains a misdemeanor.

Just over 50,000 people were arrested on marijuana possession charges last year, a vast majority of them members of minorities and male. Critics say that as part of the Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy, officers routinely tell suspects to empty their pockets and then, if marijuana is displayed, arrest them for having the drugs in public view, thereby pushing thousands of people toward criminality and into criminal justice system.

Critics said the commissioner’s memo, reported on Friday by WNYC, represented a major change of policy. “This will make a tremendous difference because tens of thousands of young people — predominately young people of color — will not be run through the system as criminals,” said Steven Banks, the attorney in chief at the Legal Aid Society, which has handled thousands of the cases.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/nyregion/minor-marijuana-possession-charges-require-public-view.html

[Uncle Joe]

1. Legalize cannabis and be done with it.

Thanks for the thread, alp.

[pinto]

4. Agree.

:hi:

[No Elephants]

2. IOW, no open carry.

[pinto]

3. Good call to close a functional loophole in the law.

:thumbsup:

[Hubert Flottz]

5. What that means is that since the 1970s the NY police and the...

NY justice system were really the criminals. How many young lives did they ruin? If half the yearly total of the 50,000 pot busts last year resulted from the police overstepping...over the past 35 years that's 874,000 arrests that were unlawful. If the taxpayers hiring lawyers for those too poor to afford their own counsel paid an average of 1,000 dollars a case for those 874,000 cases generated by these bogus arrests. That cost the taxpayers $874,000,000. If half of the people arrested spent a year in jail at a cost of about $25,000.00 a year, that's another $10,925,000,000.00 for a total cost over 35 years of about $11,799,000,000.00 to the taxpayers of one state for pot busts, that were by the law, unlawful. That don't count the man hours paid to police officers and court costs. Also factor in the amount it cost, to add more police officers, judges, POs and state's attorneys, to attend to the more serious criminals, that the officers and other public servants involved in these petty unjust pot arrests and court cases were, not able to take care of, without leaving the public at risk from more dangerous criminals, than a kid with a few grams of weed.

Now there is one crock of shit that has contributed to the deficit for years, times 50 states. The "War On Pot" is a war that the government can't win, even if it cheats every day, for almost 40 years and look at the cost in money and ruined lives.

[patrice]

6. Jobs & Revenue - and - that doesn't even mention Hemp entrepreneurship!

Would Hemp have to be legalized separately?

[Stumbler]

9. Hemp entrepreneurship is why marijuana is still illegal

At least one of dozens of reasons.

Too many current industries face potential competition from legalized hemp entrepreneurship. Remember: "Competition" is good for workers 'competing' for jobs, not for employers 'competing' against one another in 'a fair' and 'open' market place...

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. That's a step in the right direction

The arrest statistics in NYC scream discrimination by race, by age and by gender, young black and Latino men get busted like mad for this, while the use is higher among whites and equal between the genders. It has been a shame on the city for years on end now. This article says 'predominately' but it should say 'damn near exclusively'.

[Cali_Democrat]

10. New York City cops are assholes about weed

Total assholes.

[sarcasmo]

11. Tax it and Legalize it.

[Dogtown]

12. Legalize now.

And tax it like liquor/cigarettes.