Assessment of NYPD Report On Public Burning of Marijuana

Assessment of NYPD Report On Public Burning of Marijuana

The Report by the New York City Police Department’s “Working Group” is more window dressing than an actual policy change. Rather, it appears to be an elaborate 20 page rationalization to continue the present enforcement protocol without any real progress on the policing front.  As of today, the policy continues to leave it to the relatively unfettered discretion in the hands of each officer to decide whether to issue a summons or, subject to a variety of exceptions, affect a full blown arrest for the public consumption of marijuana. The continuation of this policy certainly is better than the old days in that those issued a summons are not fingerprinted and face only a maximum $100 fine for a first offense. But, that is not the policy that the citizens of New York want or need.

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