







(NYC marijuana law chart from NORML)

An article in Cannabis News by Harry G. Levine, a professor of sociology at Queens College, City University of New York, explains why New York City is the "marijuana arrest capital of the world." The law states that possessing a small amount of pot results in $100 civil citation for the first offense. Yet 40,300 people were arrested and jailed in NYC last year for possessing small amounts of pot. How so? By trickery on the part of the NYPD. Police officers convince people to pull their stash out of their pocket, promising to go easy on them if they do, then bust them on charges of having marijuana "open to public view," which means they can be handcuffed, fingerprinted, and jailed on a misdemeanor charge. (As you might expect, racial profiling figures heavily into the arrests.)

The Epidemic of Pot Arrests in New York City (Via The Agitator)