New York state is making a big move towards decriminalizing marijuana.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has now backed New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposal that would reduce the penalties for public possession of small amounts of marijuana. And yes, that does still mean no smoking on the street. Under Governor Cuomo's plan, all possession of small amounts of marijuana, public or private, would only be subject to a fine.
"Young person has small amount of marijuana in their pocket and that's a violation that's a fine. Police officer said turn out your pocket and now it's a crime," Cuomo explained on Monday. "Who could defend against that?"
The proposal was made in an effort to lower the number of marijuana-related arrests.
According to The New York Times, the NYPD made roughly 50,000 arrests last year over possession of marijuana. The current stop-and-frisk policy allows police to stop and search anyone who they deem “suspicious.” Most of the people stopped, however, are Hispanic or black, prompting many to criticize the policy as a means to target minorities.
Leave a Comment:
Decriminalization of pot possession would definitely be a step in the right direction. Pot offender cases clog the courts, the jails, and overloads law enforcement. On a cost to enforce the law/damage to society basis, it makes little sense to ruin lives for something that is doing so little harm.
This will open the gates to deregulation of cigars, even grey market ones, and single-malt Scotch whiskeys. When champagne spurts from the city water fountains, how are we going to identify the disadvantaged to reduce their entitlements, how to find the disenfranchised to reserve the vote for the elect whom God has properly and visibly rewarded? Will the Nanny State insert itself into marijuana price controls? Or will there be FDA-monitored labeling for purity and potency? It's not just some accident that America leads the world in percentage of population incarcerated; it's an effective model of governance. Next we'll confront the loss of jobs in the judicial system, and the private for-profit prison system which is one of the remaining growth industries in the free enterprise system we are fighting to preserve. If nothing else, consider the seldom recognized impact of this gateway drug on the impressionable population: Science has confirmed that over 70% of pot users go on to consume vast quantities of beverages and foodstuffs. Can you be sure that there will always be enough left for you and yours? If you are concerned now is the time to make your voice heard!
WTF did you just say?????
Hey TLW staff! Huge fan of the show. I got a quick question. For the re-write segment regarding Alex Castellanos, you guys didn't happen to get the idea to do that from my post on my blog by any chance, did you?
On the very off chance that you did, I'm not complaining! Just curious, is all. ;)
Science has also shown that the percentage of cancer causing tars are much higher in marijuana and hashhish than in cutured tobacco products, not to mention the damge done by THC to the proper information transfer between nerve synapses in the brain. But we want to decriminalize weed for society but ban the smoking of tobacco in public, and regulate tobacco out of the hands and lungs of school children, but not marijuana?
I guess that is known as choosing your poison, and of course, we know the left is all in favor of marijuna but against sugar beverages, transfats, and tobacco..and will arrest and fine you if caught consuming too much (or in the case of transfts and tobacco, any) of them in public places. Talk about a waste of police efforts and backlogs in the courts! LOL!
Wrong wrong wrong on all accounts. Where did you get your info? Fox News?
Can you please provide the source of the supporting data for your claim?
Well, on the medical consequences of marijuana use and abuse i taught that as an introductory course developed by a fellow with Harvard Law school in the early 80s while working in a Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation program with the Veterans Administration in Massachusetts, and later also used that instruction with the Department of Army's Drug and Alcohol Control Program in the late 80s in Washington Statet. Good enough for you? If you have information differs with that, why post it!
What else is your gripe with what I posted, weedheads?
Error; I meant to say "developed by a fellow member of the Harvard 'Med' School, not 'Law' School", please adjust accordingly.
Keith Longey is a douschbag. I just saw it on Fox. He's also never smoked pot or done a line or put a needle in his arm, but very soon, he'll be letting us know exactly what not to do that he knows nothing about.
Hey keith. (lowercase on purpose) You smoke pot a couple of times every time you do it. You inhale cigarette smoke hundreds of times every couple of cigarettes you smoke. Get smart or get bent. Tar? Really? Go live in Beijing. Pot opens your blood vessels. Maybe we should ban NO2.
Or maybe our government needs to get out of the pot business and find something more productive for our so called public servants.
"Douschebag"? Is that the German spelling, or are you ignorant on top of foolish, Avail?
The medical information is that there is a much higher concentration of carcinogencic tars in marijuana and hashish! And I was in college in the 60s, so yes i tried both a few times, but as to "doing a line, or shooting up", nope, never had the need to live vicariously...but I sure have seen my share of people that have, and have become classically addicted, and a danger to themselves and others therefore. And an addictive personality disorder can be addicted to cannabis just as easily as tobacco, alcohol, and any of the other prescription and illegal drugs of choice and abuse.
I suppose you believe employers and police investigating crime suspects and traffic stops and moving vehicle accdents should stop breathalyzing and blood and/or urine testing procedures too?
Try sucking up a little reality, and see if your life doesn't get better, fool!
Legalize it, not just decriminalize it. Permit its sale wherever alcohol is sold, tax it, regulate it outside the home (& garden.); regulate the age of users, ban SMOKING it where smoking is banned, consider driver impairment (D'UI'). Issue licenses to some restaurants, to create 'special' desserts!
Since medical study of cannabis was forbidden as of @1930, your "Reefer Madness"
information is just, well, more madness. The legalization of medical marijuana
by California in 1996 finally broke down the door to scientific studies, yielding up-to-date data that have revealed it as a potent medicine for a wide variety of
hard-to-treat disorders and diseases, including cancer, MS, Altzheimers and glaucome, to name just a few. The US government--which still
prosecutes possession of this herb even in states where it is legal--also holds
Patent #6630507, granted in 2003, for the medical use of cannabis! What a bunch of greedy hypocrites!
Uninformed opponents should stop wasting everybody's time. Check here for an annotated list of up-to-date cannabis facts: http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/drug-facts/marijuana-facts
Legalize cannibus NOW, before big pharma gets their hands on it, a move already in the works. Greed and control is what cannibals criminalization is all about, not health or public safety.
That does't negate the information that the board certified in Massachusetts Harvard Med School adjunct professor found from the information regarding biopsyes and autopsyes on the lungs of deceased marijuanna abusers, and also brain cat scans and autopsyses. barefoot. I thought all unwashed unproductive hippies by the way wore sandals? How did you get your Monikor?
Holy @!$%#! A board certified adjunct professor from the '80's? Pretty impressive credentials! I mean, WOW! Just WOW!
Here you go--all about that "unwashed, unproductive hippie" with the strange moniker: http://www.linkedin.com/in/barefootdesigns
Pardon the typos please--doing this with a busteeed wing.
I usualy don't waste my time correcting mine, so you have my pardon.