The decline in arrests is welcome news to police reformers who have long lamented the disproportionate amount of low-level marijuana arrests among black and brown New Yorkers. | Getty Images Marijuana enforcement declines dramatically in New York City

Low-level marijuana enforcement has decreased dramatically in New York City following a change in policy announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio in the spring, according to data obtained by POLITICO from the New York Police Department.

In May, de Blasio announced that the NYPD would no longer arrest for low level marijuana possession — even if a person is smoking in public — following widespread criticism over racial disparities in arrests. Instead, the mayor said the police would issue a criminal summons.


Arrests for low-level marijuana possession have decreased 90 percent from Sept. 2017 to Sept. 2018.

Moreover, police are not increasing summonses to make up for the decline in arrests — summonses have decreased 26 percent over that same one-year period — meaning marijuana enforcement has gone down 58 percent in roughly a year's time.

De Blasio said the new policy would t ake effect in September, though the data shows that arrests started decreasing in April and May. There were only 161 arrests for low-level marijuana possession in September, according to NYPD's numbers.

“This new policy is an important step toward less intrusive enforcement while we continue to drive down crime to record lows and New York City remains the safest big city,” said Devora Kaye, a spokeswoman for the NYPD.

Even before the recent policy shift, marijuana arrests under de Blasio had been on the wane.

In 2017 the NYPD had arrested almost 18,000 people for possession, 38 percent less than the last year under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The NYPD said then that almost all of the remaining arrests were for people smoking in public and the department had not been arresting people merely for possession.

De Blasio announced the recent change after numerous press stories on the racial disparities in arrests and considerable public pressure, including a joint press conference calling for a change by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and Rev. Al Sharpton.

The decline in arrests is welcome news to police reformers who have long lamented the disproportionate amount of low-level marijuana arrests among black and brown New Yorkers.

“It shows the police department is hearing us and taking some tangible steps to addressing disparities," said Council Member Donovan Richards, a long-time critic of the city’s marijuana enforcement policies.

But he said the city still has a ways to go.

There were still almost more than 1,100 criminal summonses for marijuana possession in September and almost 1,400 in August. And the data shows that racial disparities in summonses were similar to those in arrests.

In 2016 through 2018, 78 percent of summonses for marijuana possession where the race was recorded were issued to people of color — 48 percent were handed out to black people and 30 percent to Hispanic people. In 2017, 86 percent of people arrested were black or Hispanic.

The disproportionate number persists despite research that shows black and whites use marijuana in roughly the same rates.

Summonses are less severe than arrests but they do have consequences. Advocates point out that if someone misses a summons appearance, the courts will issue an arrest warrant. In September, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance vacated misdemeanor marijuana warrants dating to 1978, citing negative effects of open warrants including preventing someone from getting a job or reporting crimes to the police.

And while a summons is not part of one’s criminal record, it does show up on a searchable online system until it is paid off. Landlords who search it might deny someone an apartment or an employer might to choose not to hire someone with a criminal summons.

Melissa Moore, New York State Deputy Director at the Drug Policy Alliance, called the decrease in enforcement astounding, but also said more needs to be done for other low level drug possession offenses.

“There are racial disparities that are just as bad if not worse ... and this serves as a really great model for what our leaders need to consider doing to address those, as well,” she said in an interview.

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the decrease is good news as well but said New York City should simply legalize marijuana.

“I think that what remains unfortunately true is that low-level marijuana possession remains a crime for people of color and not for white people and it shouldn’t be crime — or even summonsable — for anybody,” she said.

The NYPD started collecting race and ethnicity data on marijuana summonses in April of 2016, and the data goes through mid 2018. There were 48,122 total marijuana possession summonses during that time, but only 32,927 had the race or ethnicity recorded, with 8,661 unknown and 6,534 were blank.

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