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Thursday, February 14, 2013

POT Bloomberg Ends Jail for Pot Possession in NYC

Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 3:38 PM

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he isn't going to wait for the state to decriminalize pot possession, making it a violation rather than a criminal offense, so he's taking executive action. From his state of the city speech:

But we know that there’s more we can do to keep New Yorkers, particularly young men, from ending up with a criminal record. Commissioner Kelly and I support Governor Cuomo’s proposal to make possession of small amounts of marijuana a violation, rather than a misdemeanor and we’ll work to help him pass it this year. But we won’t wait for that to happen.

Right now, those arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana are often held in custody overnight. We’re changing that. Effective next month, anyone presenting an ID and clearing a warrant check will be released directly from the precinct with a desk appearance ticket to return to court. It’s consistent with the law, it’s the right thing to do and it will allow us to target police resources where they’re needed most.

Right on, you crazy ol' anti-soda lady-doer.

Compare that to Bloomberg's predecessor, world's tightest rectum Rudolph Giuliani, whose marijuana enforcement was positively draconian. Giuliani instigated marijuana sweeps that drove arrests from a negligent handful to tens of thousands of busts a year—making pot possession New York's number-one "crime." Oh, and almost all of them were racial minorities.

Bloomberg is part of undoing that cinched sphincter's legacy.

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Comments (6) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

Actually, if you think about it, this will increase revenues to NYC, with fines, and decrease expenses (jail is not cheap).

Posted by Will in Seattle

on February 14, 2013 at 4:01 PM

New York is Seattle now.

Every place will be Seattle some day.

Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe

on February 14, 2013 at 4:50 PM

So, he's going to let his police department continue making this a fishing expedition? The right thing to do is to ignore the cannabis flowers and take action---demand papers and radio in a check to see if there's an excuse to escalate---only if there's reason to suspect wrongdoing in the first place.

Posted by Phil M

on February 14, 2013 at 5:11 PM

He's fixing Giuliani's crackdowns in his 11th year in office (and not running for re-election). How incredibly brave of him to do so after the winds changed. He is such a great respecter of civil rights, especially those of minorities. It is almost as if stop-and-frisk wasn't greatly expanded by him. The only reason Bloomberg looks good here is because he had Giuliani before him. That should tell you how fucked up Bloomberg is.

Posted by delirian on February 14, 2013 at 6:43 PM

Oh, and just in case anybody is wondering why Bloomberg is doing this, remember that his stop-and-frisk program (which he increased 600% over Giuliani) basically means that if you are black and in New York, you are going to be repeatedly unlawfully searched. This naturally has led to massive numbers of marijuana arrests and complaints that he is targeting minorities (which he is). By stopping the arrests of the stop-and-friskers, he can erase those numbers from his arrest stats and use the change in policy to deflect the criticism that his unlawful searches have generated.

Posted by delirian on February 14, 2013 at 6:50 PM

What 4/5 said, Bloombergs, anti-civil rights, millionaire, media mogul, freedom hating ass should be hung for treason for his violation of the Bill of Rights.

Posted by Cascadian Bacon on February 14, 2013 at 9:55 PM