N.Y. advocates hopeful for reform in 2013
In recent years, the “public use” exception to New York’s 1977 decriminalization law has been abused by police officers. New York City police have told tens of thousands of people, mostly young people of color, to empty their pockets — thus making them criminals. That might finally change this year.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, and several district attorneys all called for the state’s law to be fixed last year. Unfortunately, then-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau County) stalled progress when he opposed the decrim fix in June, expressing an absurd concern that people could walk around with 10 joints in each ear. Despite Sen. Skelos’ puzzling stance, there are many reasons for hope. Since the November election, the leadership in the state Senate has changed. Sen. Skelos is now sharing leadership with Sen. Jeffrey Klein (D). Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo has continued to call for an end to these marijuana possession arrests — including in his State of the State Address.
As momentum continues to build to stop criminalizing low-level marijuana possession, New York’s medical marijuana patients continue to wait for the governor to show similar leadership to allow them to have safe access to their medicine. Gov. Cuomo’s past opposition to allowing medical marijuana appears to have softened somewhat, but he still has not said he is supportive of this important reform.
Please call Sen. Skelos and Gov. Cuomo to ask them to support medical marijuana patients this year. You can also write your legislators and the legislative leaders in support of the decrim fix bill.
Are you a patient?
If you are supportive and are a medical professional, a seriously ill patient who might benefit from medical marijuana, a law enforcement official, a clergy member, or a member of the legal community, or you know someone else that is, please email state@mpp.org to see how you can be of special help. Please include your address or nine-digit ZIP code.
New York’s weak "decrim" law
New York is one of the 14 states that penalize first-offense possession of a modest amount of marijuana with a fine instead of possible jail time. First-offense possession of up to 25 grams of marijuana is punishable by a $100 civil citation, although first-offense possession of between 25 grams and two ounces carries a $500 fine and up to three months in jail.
As was mentioned earlier, law enforcement have been able to exploit a loophole in the decriminalization law by getting an arrestee to expose his or her marijuana as "open to public view," which converts the conduct into an arrestable offense. This has resulted in the second highest per capita marijuana arrest rate in the U.S., at almost 93,000 people per year. The Drug Policy Alliance and other allies have campaigned to fix this abuse, and in September 2011, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly issued a memo to police not to arrest people for possession that is not in public view. Unfortunately, arrests have continued. In June 2012, Gov. Andrew Cuomo made worldwide headlines when he called for the closing of this much-abused loophole. You can learn more about New York by reading this report by Jon Gettman, Ph.D.
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