Police officers in New York City will soon issue summonses instead of arresting most people caught smoking marijuana in public, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Tuesday.
The product of a 30-day working group convened to review the city’s rules on marijuana enforcement, the New York Police Department will stop automatically arresting people for smoking pot in public starting September 1, according to the NYPD’s newest policies.
“Nobody’s destiny should hinge on a minor non-violent offense,” said Mr. de Blasio, a Democrat. “This new policy will help reduce unnecessary arrests, while making our City fairer and safer,” he said in a statement.
Smoking weed in public will remain illegal once the policy takes effect, but the majority of New Yorkers found breaking the law will only receive a criminal summons that carries a $100 fine for first-time offenders.
People caught smoking pot in public will still be subject to arrest if they are on probation or parole, have existing criminal warrants, lack identification, have a recent documented history of violence or pose an immediate public safety risk, officials said.
“We know that it is not productive to arrest people who have no prior criminal history,” added Mr. O’Neill, a member of the NYPD since 1983. “Issuing summonses for marijuana offenses that do not directly affect public safety will allow our officers to do their jobs effectively and safely, and in a way that always promotes public safety and quality of life for all New Yorkers,” he said in a statement.
The NYPD arrested around 17,000 people in 2017 for smoking marijuana in public, and roughly 40 percent of the individual taken into custody had no prior arrest history, the working group found.
Previous research found that roughly 86 percent of those arrested in 2017 were either black or Hispanic, and Mr. de Blasio said when he announced the creation of the working group that a rule change may be warranted to end racial disparity.
Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, previously said his office will decline to prosecute marijuana possession and smoking cases starting Aug. 1, citing “a new effort to reduce inequality and unnecessary interactions with the criminal justice system.”
“The dual mission of the Manhattan DA’s office is a safer New York and a more equal justice system,” he said last month. “The ongoing arrest and criminal prosecution of predominantly black and brown New Yorkers for smoking marijuana serves neither of these goals.”
New York is one of 29 states that have laws in place permitting qualified patients to use medical marijuana, but public consumption is prohibited from coast to coast.
On Monday, meanwhile, the commissioner of the state Health Department said he plans to recommend that New York joint the list of nine states and counting with recreational marijuana laws on the books.
“We realized that the pros outweigh the cons, and that the report recommends that a regulated, legal marijuana program be available to adults in the state of New York,” said New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker.
Marijuana is illegal under federal law, but the Trump administration has refrained so far from intervening in the growing list of states that have passed laws legalizing the plant for medical or recreational purposes.
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