Three Days after NYC’s New Marijuana Policy
It’s been over seventy-two hours after New York City mayor de Blasio, along with the support and cooperation of the police commissioner, have altered the cities cannabis policy. Rather than arrest those you possess “minor amounts” of the substance in public will not yield an arrest, but rather what essentially amounts to a stern warning. This legal strategy, which is reminiscent of the Portuguese drug model, has led to optimism for some cannabis advocates hoping that the relaxed stance will reduce the number of meaningless arrests and the unnecessary fining of New Yorkers in general, but especially black and brown people.
While this is a great stride for liberty in the Big Apple it is important to consider what this does not mean, and things New Yorkers should be wary off. Marijuana is not legal to possess or consume in New York City. As hilariously parodied by Saturday Night Live the a few grams of the substance could be flashed about in front of police, but lighting up in a public space or private establishment will result in a world of legal hurt.
In conclusion this new policy should be understood to be just that: a policy. It isn’t a law, it isn’t an edict, and it could be subject to change with a new mayor and police commissioner. Such a change in policy could be more lenient, or it could even be changed to become more draconian. For this reason New Yorkers should be careful to watch their city politics especially with regard to high ranking city police officials as well as the next round of mayoral campaigns we’ve yet to see.
On a less gloomy note this policy while in force, should give casual cannabis users, particularly non-white ones, a reason to breathe easier when traversing the city’s streets without fear of unwarranted harassment. This small step may give cannabis advocates the necessary wiggle room to move in a more radical direction towards cannabis full recreational legalization, or at the very least legalization for medicinal usage. But it’s still just too early to tell.
Furthermore, such a change doesn’t seem that likely with the current mayor of NYC who has still said he isn’t in favor of legalization, despite being the primary legal instigator of this policy shift. Still this legal grey area should at least show the social conservatives that not harassing peaceful people to determine the contents of their pockets will yield to a better form of city living for everyone living there.
