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New York City Find Way to Profit from Pot
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
November 11, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Creating a new ordinance to issue more
revenue-generating tickets for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana,
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Police Chief Bill Bratton
thought they took a progressive step.
With over 20 states with medical marijuana compassionate use laws and
four states legalizing marijuana, New York City’s new ordinance raises more cash
but little else. New York’s
“stop-and-frisk” ordinance falls disproportionately hard of blacks and
Hispanics, with police searching whites only 10% of the time. De Blasio and Bratton painted New
York City’s new ordinance as a step in the right direction, writing tickets,
issuing fines instead of arrests, bookings and jail-time. “I came into office with a pledge to
incessantly heal wound of the past,” de Blasio said at a press conference,
referring to years of targeting New York City’s minorities.
Arresting more than 28,000 folks in New York for marijuana possession in
2013, de Blasio and Bratton found a goldmine to help subsidize the biggest
municipal bureaucracy in the United States, maybe the world. “Today is another step,” insisted de
Blasio, in his promise to right the wrongs of the past that singled out
minorities for more harsh police treatment.
New York City crime stats prove that 86% of those arrested in 2013 for
marijuana possession were black or Hispanics.
“We’ve come to a policy that makes sense,” said de Blasio, not admitting
that the new ordinance could be the biggest revenue boon in recent memory. “This policy will give officers more
time to continue with their work . . . rather than get bogged with an
unproductive arrest,” implying that that the NYPD could make better use of their
time. Instead of costly and
time-consuming arrests, NYPD will right more tickets.
Given the mood of the country where some 51% of the public favors
cannabis legalization, you’d think the right decision would be to not write
tickets at all for possession of under an ounce, not de Blasio’s 25-gram metric. “I don’t want [my officers] chasing
down 25-gram bags of marijuana and ties up for hours in courts,” said Bratton,
echoing de Blasio’s statements. But
why should Bratton want his officers writing tickets at all for under-an-ounce
marijuana possession? When you
consider the green light given to rank-and-file NYPD to “stop-and-frisk” folks
for marijuana possession, the 28,000 arrests number could go higher issuing
marijuana infraction tickets. When
you consider how hard the marijuana arrest burden falls on blacks and Hispanics,
you’d think that de Blasio and Bratton would figured out something other than
issuing tickets.
Given current laws and attitudes around the country, you’d think de
Blasio and Bratton would not find a slam-dunk to generate more NYC revenue. Burdening the NYPC with issuing
infraction tickets for marijuana possession doesn’t accomplish the intent of the
new ordinance, freeing officers up for more important things. Instructing the NYPD to issue
infraction tickets promises to task officers with another clever way of
generating revenue for the city.
When the New York State legislature decriminalized marijuana possession in 1977,
making possession 25-grams a non-criminal offense, it was progressive back then. Today’s ruling by de Blasio and
Bratton harks back to ruling made nearly 40 years ago when marijuana offenders
were often heavily fined and given jail time.
With Washington D.C., Oregon and Alaska legalizing pot, New York City’s
new ordinance looks backward.
Neither de Blasio nor Bratton favor marijuana legalization, instead
capitalizing on the public’s changing mood on cannabis use. “Mayor de Blasio is doing the right
thing by order NYPD to stop the arrests,” Gabriel Sayegh, managing director of
Drug Policy Alliance told Yahoo News.
Sayegh can’t possibly think that giving NYC the biggest revenue enhancer
since the parking ticket is the right thing.
Knowing the new ticket burden falls disproportionately on minorities also
doesn’t pass the smell test. While
issuing tickets is better than arrests, NYC shouldn’t profit on a growing
national trend accepting marijuana use.
Bratton signaled that he intends to fully prosecute users that smoke in
public. NYC’s “stop-and-frisk”
practices still leave city residents vulnerable to police searching personal
possessions, especially the 86% arrest stat that falls on minorities over
whites.
New York City’s “stop-and-frisk” unduly burdens minorities, since they’re
targeted more often than whites.
Implemented during the tenure of former NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly,
the “stop-and-frisk” policy was ruled unconstitutional in 2013 by a federal
judge. “The stark reality is that
violence is happening disproportionately in minority communities,” Kelly said
last year. “And that unfortunately
is in big cities throughout America,” excusing the policy that “searches” New
York City residents without probable cause.
Whether there’s more violent crime in big cities has nothing to do with
non-violent drug-related offense that have jammed up jails and prisons, costing
states billions in prosecution and incarceration costs. Had de Blasio and Bratton gotten the
new marijuana ordinance right, they would instruct NYPD officers to do nothing,
not issue costly tickets.
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