Starting in March, Mayor Bloomberg’s new marijuana policy will decrease the level of punishment for those found in possession of small amounts of marijuana.
City residents caught with a low-level of marijuana, less than 7/8 of an ounce, will no longer face any amount of overnight jail-time and will instead be issued an appearance ticket, which will allow them to leave jail until their court date.
Currently, New Yorkers caught in possession of marijuana are often held in jail for a maximum of 24-36 hours before being released with a ticket to appear in court.
Under the new policy, anyone charged with possessing a small amount of marijuana will be released immediately as long as they can show photo ID and have no open warrants. Bloomberg has not yet clarified to what degree marijuana constitutes a low-level charge.
David Greenberg, a sociology professor at NYU, said that he doesn’t think Bloomberg’s new policy goes far enough.
“It would be best to decriminalize the sale and possession of marijuana,” Greenberg said.
However, Bloomberg has stated that he opposes the legalization of marijuana. He hopes that his new policy will ease the congestion of courts and jails.
Arrests in New York City for marijuana possession decreased 22 percent in 2012. Still, low level possession accounts for the most arrests than any other crime in the city. Many of these arrests occur as a result of the city’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy.
Bloomberg defended the change in policy in his State of the City address on Feb. 17.
“New Yorkers are safer from crime today than we’ve been in modern memory,” he said in his address. “And we’ve done that while also reducing incarceration. Now we’ll work to keep more young people out of trouble and out of detention.”
Students, however, supported the measure. CAS sophomore Nia England applauded this new law.
“Our legal system [spends] a lot of money on marijuana arrests when there are other issues is a bit of a waste,” she said.
CAS freshman Andy Colon also said that these were necessary steps.
“These are necessary steps that I feel that all states are soon going to take to decriminalize marijuana,” he said.
Adjoa Hackman is a contributing writer. Email her at [email protected].
