A new law in Maryland reducing possession penalties went into effect in 2014. Massachusetts voters removed criminal penalties for adults caught with less than an ounce in 2009. New York City also announced a new approach to possession late last year. For the first time in almost a century, marijuana consumers within the East Coast's biggest metro areas - from Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the District of Columbia - no longer face handcuffs and holding cells for cannabis possession.