To know how quickly New York overhauled its marijuana legal guidelines, look no additional than its influence on the prison justice system.
Fewer and fewer individuals are being arrested on marijuana offenses in New York, underscoring the key impact of the drug’s decriminalization in 2019 and, in the end, its legalization this previous March.
From April by way of October of this yr, simply 116 individuals statewide have been arrested on a top-level misdemeanor or felony cost associated to marijuana possession or sale in New York, information compiled by the state Division of Felony Justice Providers reveals.
And as of early October, 11 individuals remained incarcerated in state prisons with a high crime of both prison sale or possession of marijuana within the first-, second- or third-degree, based on the state Division of Correction and Neighborhood Supervision.
A high cost is essentially the most extreme offense somebody is arrested for.
The drop-off in marijuana arrests has been stark as state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo reshaped the state’s legal guidelines associated to the drug.
In 2020, after New York lawmakers took steps to lower marijuana penalties however earlier than they legalized sure quantities of the substance, there have been 2,720 misdemeanor or felony marijuana arrests.
Examine that to 2017, when there have been 28,239 misdemeanor marijuana arrests alone, based on a examine by the John Jay Faculty of Felony Justice.
Advocates say the numbers point out the success of centering social justice within the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, the legislation accepted by Cuomo and lawmakers this previous March, permitting for grownup use of leisure marijuana within the state.
The legislation instantly approved the possession of as much as three ounces of marijuana and can ultimately enable New York residents to develop marijuana crops at their residence for leisure use. Promoting hashish with out a correct license, nonetheless, stays unlawful.
Beforehand, lawmakers voted in 2019 to cut back many marijuana crimes to a violation, an offense that will usually draw a ticket.
However advocates additionally warn that the state’s arrest numbers may not present the complete extent of marijuana criminalization, as individuals may face different prices primarily based on the presence of marijuana.
Mary Kruger, government director of the Rochester chapter of the Nationwide Group for the Reform of Marijuana, mentioned the diminished arrest numbers are a gauge that the legislation is having the meant influence.
She added that the rationale why advocates fought so laborious to get this invoice handed was that they didn’t need the harms of prohibition to be an afterthought as they have been in another states.
“However in our laws,” she added, “it was all the time within the forefront and it was a non-negotiable to have this be one thing that was included.”
When the measure handed in March, the legislation allowed adults over the age of 21 to hold, show and devour three ounces of marijuana.
Greater than 100,000 individuals are anticipated be capable of get their prior data expunged below the brand new legislation. The Workplace of Courtroom Administration has as much as two years to finish the duty, although data are being suppressed within the interim.
The act additionally units out the aim to provide 50% of licenses to social fairness candidates akin to disabled veterans, girls, and people disproportionately impacted by the battle on medicine, akin to individuals of shade.
It additionally usually removes the order of hashish and the presence of money close to hashish as an inexpensive trigger that crime had occurred.
Regulation enforcement officers can nonetheless use the odor of burnt hashish when investigating whether or not an individual is working a motorized vehicle whereas impaired by medicine or alcohol. However these officers nonetheless can’t use the odor of hashish to go looking an space of the automobile that’s “readily accessible to the motive force.”
The legislation additionally says that possession of greater than three ounces of hashish will probably be a violation that’s punishable by a wonderful. There are nonetheless felony offenses for prices akin to first-degree prison possession, which stipulates that the individual has greater than 10 kilos on their individual.
For the 11 individuals who remained imprisoned on marijuana-related prices in New York, clemency and commutation must be thought-about for his or her offenses to “fulfill a few of the guarantees of legalization,” mentioned Natalie Papillion, coverage advisor and director of strategic initiatives on the Final Prisoner’s Undertaking.
Began in 2019, the mission was based out of a “perception that nobody ought to stay incarcerated for hashish offenses,” based on its web site.
“A few of these 11 individuals, it could find yourself being extra, could also be eligible for reduction or launch as soon as these re-sentencing provisions occur,” Papillion mentioned. “And so there are a pair other ways we will principally finish cannabis-related incarceration in New York within the close to time period.”
The 11 people have been convicted below Penal Code 221, the stricter marijuana legislation that has since been repealed, based on DOCCS. 4 of these individuals have been sentenced this yr.
The MRTA does enable for re-sentencing for some individuals convicted of marijuana offenses, notably for an individual who has been convicted of a cost that’s not deemed unlawful.
Joseph Bondy, a New York Metropolis-based prison protection and hashish enterprise legal professional, mentioned that not many individuals go to jail for hashish as they normally plead all the way down to a decrease offense.
Bondy famous that arrests are a larger metric of the disruption {that a} marijuana offense can have on somebody’s life.
Arrests are down in that class, too. For example, when New York’s hashish legislation was handed within the first quarter of this yr, New York Metropolis police had round 160 marijuana arrests, data present. Within the third quarter, there have been round 25 marijuana arrests, up from eight within the second quarter.
Though prison marijuana legal guidelines have been relaxed, Bondy famous, he fears that folks will nonetheless be arrested for cannabis-related offenses. So whereas the individual will not be charged with a marijuana offense, there could possibly be extra tax, enterprise, and organizational prosecutions.
“So there’s going to be much more marijuana prosecutions for various issues,” he mentioned. “Your authorities won’t be giving up.”
He added, “They’re not simply chucking up the sponge.”
Bondy mentioned the marijuana laws is a watershed second. And that lots of the purchasers whom he as soon as represented criminally are in search of new alternatives to hitch the legalized market.
“It’s magic,” he mentioned, remarking on the change of fortunes.
Consists of reporting by New York State Group editor Jon Campbell.
