Despite a push to decriminalize marijuana, the rate of African-Americans and Hispanics getting arrested on pot charges is climbing, according to recent city stats.
Overall weed arrests are a fifth of what they were during the spring of 2018, dropping from 2,652 at the end of June to 520 at the end of December.
But since the Mayor de Blasio and the NYPD started a new policy to go easy on marijuana possession last fall, the rate of black and Hispanic arrests for pot has ticked up two points. The percentage of whites arrested decreased by the same margin.
Exemptions to the Mayor’s new rules on loco weed make it more likely that those ticketed or arrested for pot will be black or Hispanic, said City Councilman Rory Lancman, who has led the push for reforming pot enforcement.
Police will still arrest public tokers if they’re on probation or parole, are a violent offender or if cops deem them a public safety threat. If you blaze without ID, or have an active warrant, you’re still going downtown for getting high.
“If the pool of people who are not eligible for the more lenient treatment are more likely to be black or Hispanic, then the law is being enforced in a racist way,” Lancman said. “Those disparity numbers are going the wrong way.”
The solution, the councilman said, is to stop enforcement completely, especially in light of the likelihood the state Legislature and the governor will legalize recreational marijuana use in the next three months.
“The city needs to stop arresting and summonsing people for recreational marijuana use,” Lancman said. If the rate of arrests continue, he said, about 5000 people will be run through the criminal justice system between now and the time pot smoking is legal.
“The city needs to ask itself why it’s doing that,” he said.
The cops defended its pot policing, noting that arrest numbers have drop by more than half from 2017 to 2018.
“The NYPD has dramatically reduced arrests and summonses for marijuana-related offenses,” police spokeswoman Sgt. Jessica McRorie said. “This new policy is an important step toward less intrusive enforcement while we continue to drive down crime to record lows and New York City remains the safest big city.”
On Wednesday, the City Council will hold a hearing on how the local government will react to the new NORML of legal weed.
Rockaways Councilman Donovan Richards said he wants to make sure minority communities, which have been disproportionately penalized for by the NYPD’s marijuana enforcement, should get first crack at the city’s budding pot market.
“We want to make sure that true economic justice comes to the black and brown communities,” he said. “It’s going to be a billion dollar industry. That money should go to the community, not Wall Street.”
Richards also said marijuana arrest and conviction records should be sealed after legalization.
“Legalization should not happen without expungement,” he said.
