primitives discuss trouble with marijuana in New York City

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=218x5892

Oh my.

groovedaddy (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-27-11 12:07 PM
Original message
 
Trouble With Marijuana Arrests - NYC

(50,000 people arrested in NYC in 2010 for simple marijuana possession!?! Insanity! gd)

Commissioner Raymond Kelly of the New York Police Department came forthwith too little, too late when he issued a memo directing officers not to arrest people caught with small amounts of marijuana unless the drug is in plain public view. A 1977 law decriminalized minor possession, yet tens of thousands are arrested every year.

In 2010, more than 50,000 people were arrested for possession of marijuana; a vast majority of them were racial minorities and male. Civil rights lawyers say that many of them were stopped as part of the Police Department’s broad stop-and-frisk practice and were arrested after officers told them to empty their pockets, which brought the drugs into open view.

Commissioner Kelly’s memo now makes clear that displaying the drug must be an “activity undertaken of the subject’s own volition” and that individuals may not be charged with violating the law if the marijuana “was disclosed to public view at an officer’s direction.”

While the memo, reported by WNYC last week, is an important step, it does not by itself end the problem. The United States Justice Department and New York lawmakers should investigate the legality of practices that led to the arrests of hundreds of thousands of people since the mid-1990s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/opinion/trouble-with-...

tk2kewl  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-27-11 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. It's still OK to violate peoples 4th Amendment rights...just don't clog the system with them if its only for a joint.

Icypwn (2 posts)      Wed Sep-28-11 10:38 AM
Response to Reply #1
 
2. Marijuana

Well if people are going to be carrying around Marijuana, then they deserve to be arrested. I'm not saying that it's wrong to smoke it, but it's against the law and they should be treated like anyone else. If it's clogging up jails, then they should just give them all fines and confiscate the weed. (The cops would probably smoke it, so it may not be the best idea.)

tk2kewl  (1000+ posts)      Wed Sep-28-11 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #2
 
3. the point is its illegal to search someone for now reason...enjoy your short stay around here

[GOBUCKS]

One of the main attractions protests and hippie demostrations have for DUmpmonkeys is that they provide a huge, open marketplace for dope peddlers and customers to get together. It's the same reason rock festivals can draw hundreds of thousands instead of tens of thousands.