Of course, what is most troubling about these arrest figures is that under state law they largely shouldn’t be occurring at all. Since 1977, New York State law has categorized the possession of 25 grams of marijuana or less as a violation, not a misdemeanor crime. So then how are NYPD making so many misdemeanor pot arrests? By violating the spirit of the law, if not the law itself.

Rather than ticketing low level marijuana offenders, City police for over a decade have been taking advantage of a separate statute, NY State Penal Law 221.10, which makes it a criminal misdemeanor to possess pot if it is ‘open to public view.’ According to an investigation last year by New York City public radio station WNYC, it was determined that City cops routinely conduct warrantless ‘stop-and-frisk’ searches of civilians, find marijuana hidden on their persons, and then falsely charge them with possessing pot ‘open to public view.’

And what has been the result of these illegal ‘stop and frisks?’ A press advisory issued yesterday by the Drug Policy Alliance lists the grim details.

– The NYPD has made more than 100,000 marijuana possession arrests for the last two years; nearly 150,000 marijuana possession arrests in the last three years; and more than 227,000 marijuana possession arrests in the last five years.

– New York City spent at least $150 million in the last two years and has spent at least $340 million in the last five years making marijuana possession arrests.

– In the last decade since Michael Bloomberg became mayor, the NYPD has made 400,038 lowest level marijuana possession arrests at a cost to taxpayers of $600 million dollars.

– Nearly 350,000 of the marijuana possession arrests made under Bloomberg are of overwhelmingly young Black and Latino men, despite the fact that young whites use marijuana at higher rates than young Blacks and Latinos.

– In the last five years, the NYPD under Bloomberg has made more marijuana arrests (2007 to 2011 = 227,093) than in the 24 years from 1978 through 2001 under Mayor Giuliani, Mayor Dinkins, and Mayor Koch combined (1978 to 2001 = 226,861).

Commissioner Kelly’s 2011 memorandum explicitly directed officers to stop charging defendants with criminal misdemeanors in instances where the contraband ‘was disclosed to public view at an officer’s direction.’ Nevertheless, the record number of low level pot arrests appears to be continuing unabated. Most likely, it will take an act of law to stop this practice.

Fortunately, bipartisan legislation is pending in both the New York State Assembly and Senate to stop this disgusting, ongoing practice. Assembly Bill 7620 and Senate Bill 5187 reduce marijuana penalties involving cases where where marijuana was either consumed or allegedly possessed in public from a criminal misdemeanor to a non-criminal violation. Passage of SB 5187 and AB 7620 will save taxpayer dollars, protect New York City’s citizens against illegal searches, and reduce unwarranted racial disparities in arrests by clarifying the law and standardizing penalties for marijuana possession offenses.

If you reside in New York and want to end the City’s dubious distinction of being the ‘marijuana arrest capital of the world,’ then please contact your state elected officials today and urge them to support SB 5187 and AB 7620. You can do so via NORML’s ‘Take Action Center’ here.

*Obligatory, because starting at 10PM (eastern) on December 1st is the Discovery Channel’s Weed Wars, a new series that looks at the fine legal line between compassion and big commerce regarding California’s medical cannabis industry.

Contrastingly, Discovery Channel is also premiering that same week a new series called Moonshiners.

New York City police officers are to cease making misdemeanor marijuana arrests in cases where the contraband was not displayed in public view, according to an internal order issued late last week by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and reported by the New York Post.

Although simple marijuana possession is a noncriminal violation in New York State, if the marijuana is ‘open to public view’ police can charge a suspect with a criminal misdemeanor.

In 2010, city police made 50,383 lowest level marijuana possession arrests [NY State Penal Law 221.10] involving cases where marijuana was either used or possessed in public. The total was the second highest in the city’s history and was an increase of over 5,000 percent from 1990, when police reported fewer than 1,000 low-level pot arrests. Over 85 percent of those charged typically are either African American or Latino.

However, an investigation in April by New York City public radio station WNYC questioned the legality of many of those arrested. It concluded that police routinely conduct warrantless ‘stop-and-frisk’ searches of civilians, find marijuana hidden on their persons, and then falsely charge them with possessing pot ‘open to public view.’

The Commissioner’s new order stipulates that marijuana discovered during a police search is a violation punishable by a ticket only. The memo states that if the contraband ‘was disclosed to public view at an officer’s direction’ then it is not sufficient evidence that a suspect is in violation of state Penal Law 221.10.

Queens College sociologist Harry Levine, who has documented the racial disparity in arrest rates in New York City and elsewhere, stated: “[I’m] pleased that the NYPD agrees that these marijuana arrests have not been proper and will begin to curtail them. We are always encouraged when the police decide to obey the law.” He added: “New York City’s routine policing practices, especially for drug possession, require major reform. This is only the first step.”

Bipartisan legislation that seeks to reduce penalties for those in violation of Penal Law 221.10 to a non-criminal violation remains pending in the state assembly.

An online analysis of marijuana arrest in New York and other major cities nationwide is now available online by the Marijuana Arrests Research Project at: http://www.marijuana-arrests.com.

Along the way to becoming one of America’s wealthiest individuals, Mr. Bloomberg has donated a remarkable amount of money to many worthy causes, notably in the field to improve public health in America and the world, most especially at his alma mater, one of the best universities in the world, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

With good health and continued good fortune, who knows what further impact Mr. Bloomberg will choose to make in national politics in his lifetime? He possess all the requisite skills and resources to become president if that’s what he chooses.

Today we find out that Mayor Bloomberg is once again demonstrating why he is one of the most interesting and charitable politicians in the modern era in reading today’s New York Times about his most recent donation of $30 million to help black and Latino youth get better integrated into the region’s economy, develop valuable skill sets and to find productive employment.

The Times reports that Mayor Bloomberg’s initial grant will be matched by New York City-based hedge fund manager and philanthropist George Soros.

Here is the ironic point to this blog post: If Mayor Bloomberg is genuinely serious about creating more favorable employment environs for black and Latino youth in New York City, he should converse with Mr. Soros, who, has donated more money than anyone on the face of the earth in favor of drug policy reform—notably for cannabis law reforms—who, I’m sure would insist that the good mayor stop arresting black and Latino youth in New York City en mass.

Regrettably, embarrassingly, for such an enlightened and civic-minded man, Mayor Bloomberg has largely maintained the shameful and starkly racially disparate cannabis law enforcement policies that he inherited from former Mayor (and drug prosecutor) Rudolf Giuliani. Mayor Giuliani exploded the annual cannabis arrest rate in the five boroughs of New York City from an average of about 2,000 arrests to an eye-popping 60,000 arrests per year.

Bloomberg’s administration has, on average, maintained an annual arrest rate for simple cannabis possession cases over 45,000, with a disturbing ninety percent of arrests happening to….black and Latino youth.

Mayor Bloomberg, please, listen to Mr. Soros and stop arresting and negatively effecting future employment opportunities for an entire generation of minorities in New York City who got caught doing the same thing you did in your more youthful years.

And look how well you turned out after using cannabis?

Why deny over 45,000 other New Yorkers (and tourists) annually the opportunity to pursue their life’s goals and dreams just because, like you, absent an arrest for your cannabis use, they chose to use a little ganja to relax? Unfortunately for them and New York taxpayers, they’re getting permanently scarred by your feckless and expensive Cannabis Prohibition law enforcement practices in Gotham.

Mayor Bloomberg, your generous and thoughtful donation of $30 million—and that of Mr. Soros’—will be working at cross purposes if you continue to give the green light to the NYPD to arrest 45,000 cannabis consumers annually into the criminal justice system, the vast majority of whom are the very population you’re concerned with.

Mr. Bloomberg, if you’re worried about saving face or “what does the NAACP think about all of this?”, don’t be. Because, hundreds of thousands of cannabis consumers and tourists in New York City will very much appreciate the change in policy and the NAACP now supports changing America’s antiquated Cannabis Prohibition laws.

Mayor Bloomberg, please magnify the positive impact of your philanthropy and concerns for civil society by ending the practice of ‘collaring’ cannabis consumers in New York City, and, instead, return to the cost effective and less detrimental practice to cannabis consumers (notably for minorities) by simply issuing a civil fine in the form of a written ticket for cannabis possession cases rather than employ valuable police time and resources unnecessarily arresting so many black and Latino cannabis consumers.

Now, all cannabis consumers in the United States—notably in municipalities and states that have reformed their cannabis laws with decriminalization laws and patient protections for medicinal use—should cite Ms. Rutkowski’s case settlement as precedent against overzealous law enforcement agencies who choose to physically arrest and detain minor cannabis offenders, rather than issue them a civil fine, similar to a speeding or parking ticket.

Kudos to Ms. Rutkowski and her attorney Joel Berger for 1) challenging the NYC police department’s infamous practice of arresting and detaining for many hours minor cannabis offenders and 2) for making it ironically clear that even an arrest on minor cannabis charges can create serious health concerns whereby an adult who chooses to consume a non-toxic and relatively safe recreational drug like cannabis (or, has the drug recommended to them to consume medically by their physician) can quite literally be placed into a life or death situation.

“They could have killed me over a joint,” Ms. Rutkowski said. “Something needs to be done.”

After thousands of years of human use, there is little-to-no scientific evidence that moderate cannabis use is harmful to the individual consumer or society in the whole. However, there is overwhelming and abundantly clear evidence that Cannabis Prohibition can be deadly for individual consumers, law enforcement personnel and those involved in the currently illegal and untaxed businesses of cultivating, transporting and selling cannabis.

Disgustingly, in a city that, since the late 1970s, is supposed to have true ‘decriminalization’ laws for cannabis possession cases, New York City continues to nearly lead the nation in per capita arrests for simple cannabis possession cases (approximately 43,000 cannabis possession arrests annually; constituting nearly five percent of all annual cannabis arrests nationwide) as well as having one of the most racially imbalanced arrest rates for minorities (approximately nine out of ten cannabis arrests in NYC are made against minorities).

The image of pot is changing, and the NORML Women’s Alliance is blazing the trail;   one high-heeled step at a time.

(From left to right: Sabrina Fendrick, Margot, Pepper, Shaleen Title, Anne Davis, Diane Fornbacher-Wall, Greta Gaines)

A little over one week before California voters will decide on proposition 19, a ballot initiative to legalize and tax marijuana for recreational purposes, the NORML Women’s Alliance and creators of Pot Couture, the first online magazine for sophisticated lady stoners, joined with several other female cannabis activists to spread the message of marijuana reform with a high-style photo shoot designed to reframe the perception of the marijuana legalization movement, and the stereotype of those involved.

The women gathered for the photo shoot are activists and professionals who support proposition 19.  The online magazine partnered with the NORML Women’s Alliance in 2010 with the shared mission of giving a voice to the women in America who oppose marijuana prohibition. “The passage of California’s historic ballot initiative Proposition 19 is a priority for women who recognize that legalization and regulation will create a safer environment for children and families,” says Sabrina Fendrick, coordinator for the NORML Women’s Alliance.

“There’s still this idea that supporters of marijuana reform are on the fringes of society, but that’s just not the case. Marijuana is as mainstream as it gets, and these women are proof,” says Pepper, of Pot Couture.

“Regardless of what happens in California in November, marijuana reform is an issue that is here to stay,” adds Margot of Pot Couture. “The medical benefits of marijuana are proven, and the economic opportunities are real. American women are savvy, and they have no interest in funding a losing war on drugs.”  Margot and Pepper are the two characters depicted in the magazine.

New Jersey NORML Executive Director, Anne Davis, Esq argues, “What we need are common sense marijuana regulations that are practical and enforceable. Marijuana is not nuclear energy or heroin; it is a plant with incredible qualities.  To hold that a natural substance should be prohibited while far more dangerous man-made toxins are permitted is insanity.”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) speakers bureau director and attorney Shaleen Titlesays, “The pro-legalization cops, judges, and DEA agents at LEAP believe that taking back control of the marijuana trade is about de-funding the only groups that benefit from the prohibition of marijuana – violent gangs and cartels who control its distribution and reap immense profits by murdering rivals and supplying drugs to kids.”

Also taking part in this game-changing makeover of female cannabis consumers are Nashville southern rock singer Greta Gaines, and long-time activist Diane Fornbacher-Wall of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.

Gaines sums up the purpose of the campaign by saying “if so-called prohibition had succeeded in reducing use rates, reducing crime, decreasing our prison population and benefiting our social and economic conditions, we, the NORML Women’s Alliance, would not be here today.”

All participants in the NORML Women’s Alliance and PotCouture.com photo shoot are available for further comment. For more information on the NORML Women’s Alliance, PotCouture.com and their upcoming campaign please contact sabrina@norml.org.  For behind the scenes footage and the making of the shoot, click here.

NORML would like to thank everyone who was involved in making this campaign possible: Michel Leroy (Lead Photographer), Jen Rosado (Fashion Stylist), Crews (Hair),  Brandon Remler (Photographer), Patricio Robayo (Photographer), Margot Mendez (Makeup), and Marvin Stevens (Hair).

Washington, DC: The NORML Foundation, the educational arm of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), will debut its second-ever digital ad this Tuesday, April 20, on the CBS Super Screen in New York City’s Times Square.

The animated billboard advertisement will highlight the dramatic increase in New York City’s rate of marijuana possession arrests, which increased from fewer than 1,000 annually in 1992 to more than 46,000 in 2009.

According to a 2008 study released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, City police have made an estimated 400,000 marijuana possession arrests over the past decade. The majority of citizens arrested for marijuana possession offenses are either African American or Hispanic.

The ad concludes: "Legalize marijuana. Stop arrests."

NORML Foundation Executive Director Allen St. Pierre called the City’s marijuana-centric arrest practices ‘shameful’ and ‘fiscally irresponsible.’ He said: "Under state law, minor marijuana possession offenses are categorized as a violation, not a criminal offense. Yet New York City police officers are effectively circumventing state law by charging tens of thousands of young adults each year with unnecessary criminal misdemeanors by claiming that the marijuana was possessed ‘in plain view.’ This is a shameful and fiscally irresponsible policy that disproportionately targets minorities and does nothing to improve public safety. It is time for City law enforcement to stop wasting taxpayers’ dollars and to abide by the state’s longstanding decriminalization law."

The NORML Foundation’s new ad will appear eighteen times per day on the CBS’s digital billboard, located on 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues. Approximately 1.5 million people walk by the billboard each day.

In March, NORML launched a 15-second digital ad trumpeting the cost savings and tax revenue that could be generated by regulating and taxing adult marijuana use. That ad, available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeH5HrG7IfM, will continue to air until Monday, April 19.

NORML’s forthcoming advertisement will air through May 2010.

Founded in 1970, NORML is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots organization advocating on behalf of marijuana law reform. The NORML Foundation was founded in 1997 to support public education, research, stake holder organizing and impact litigation. In 2009, NORML Foundation launched the first-ever nationwide television ad campaign calling for the regulation of marijuana by adults.

For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, Executive Director of The NORML Foundation, at (202) 483-5500.

This 15 second animation supporting the legalization of cannabis is currently being displayed eighteen times a day on the biggest billboard in New York City’s Times Square

NORML CALLS FOR A GREENER, CLEANER AND SAFER ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

*Empire State NORML and noted speakers come downtown for a press conference concerned about social and property damage associated with St. Patrick’s Day Calling for marijuana to be recognized as a safer alternative to alcohol.

*Demanding the NYPD respect marijuana’s decriminalized status.

*Celebrating the premiere of the new NORML ad, running in Times Square

-CITY HALL PARK, MARCH 16, 2010, NOON-
This coming Tuesday at high noon, Empire State NORML, the New York Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) will rally at City Hall Park on the Broadway side. They will be presenting marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol for New York’s many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Dozens are expected to attend and it’s certain to gain the attention of the hundreds of financial district workers who access the park area every lunchtime.

Speakers include Dr. Julie Holland attending physician and board-certified psychiatrist at Bellevue Hospital and CUNY Professor Harry Levine author of the 2008 NYCLU report, “Marijuana Arrest Crusade: Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City 1997-2007“.

-Alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana-
According to Dr. Holland “Say what you will about marijuana, one thing you can’t say: pot kills. No practical lethal dose has ever been established; no fatal overdose has ever been recorded. In America, the most likely harm to result from using cannabis is being arrested.”

Dr. Holland added “Alcohol kills brain cells and liver cells. If you drink long enough, heavily enough, you will end up needing a new liver and a new brain.  American hospitals are clogged with people suffering from alcohol-induced dementia and liver failure. And don’t forget: abrupt withdrawal from alcohol, once you are addicted, carries a thirty percent mortality.  The DT’s can kill you, just as getting too drunk can kill you. Alcohol is a toxic drug. And it is legal.”

-Call for the NYPD to stop unjust marijuana prosecutions-
Empire State NORML will also call on the New York City Police Department to enforce the marijuana possession laws in line with its decriminalized status under New York State penal law.

In 2008, the New York City Police Department made 40,383 marijuana possession arrests-over 110 per day, and more than all the marijuana possession arrests under Mayors Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani combined. Most of those arrested are young, male and black and Latino

Professor Levine explains “In 2008, the NYPD made 40,300 lowest level marijuana possession arrests [NY State Penal Law 221.10] In 2009, the NYPD made 46,400 of these marijuana possession arrests. A 15% increase from 2008, and the second highest number of pot possession arrests ever, bested only by the year 2000 when the NYPD had five thousand more cops.

“As in 2008, those the NYPD arrested were 54% blacks, 33% Latinos, and 10% whites. In 2009, as in 2008, police arrested blacks for pot possession at seven times the rate of whites, and Latinos at four times the rate of whites. Most of the people arrested were under 26 years of age and about 30% were teenagers. 90% are male.  Most of the people arrested are black and Latino teenagers and young men. In all of the arrests, marijuana possession was the highest charge or the only one.”

Noted Doug Greene of Empire State NORML, “Even though New York State decriminalized marijuana in 1977, New York City has become the marijuana arrest capital of the world,” He added “New York City’s prosecution of young, poor minorities for pot possession doesn’t come cheap, it cost taxpayers between $60,000,000 and $100,000,000 in 2008 alone.  How can we justify these expenses when New York City is facing multi-billion budget gaps as far as the eye can see?”

-CBS changes position and allows NORML ad in Times Square-
“Money can grow on trees.” That is the message of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation (NORML) in a 15-second digital ad scheduled to debut in New York City’s Times Square this week. The advertisement, produced and paid for by NORML’s educational arm, The NORML Foundation, will air on the CBS Super Screen through May 31, 2010

###

We also noted the hypocrisy of telling us that NORML’s ad was too contentious an issue ad for the billboard while running – on Super Bowl Sunday – the controversial Focus on the Family anti-abortion ad featuring college QB Tim Tebow and his mother:

Now courtesy of Huffington Post we can show you another acceptable advertisement for CBS Billboards in Atlanta:

...but this billboard in Atlanta is perfectly acceptable

It does not matter which side of the abortion debate you lie, you can certainly agree that abortion is one of the most contentious and controversial issues of our times. NORML, Focus on the Family, and the African-American anti-abortion outreach group Life Education and Research Network that funded these latest Atlanta billboards are all non-profit advocacy organizations lobbying for very controversial issues.

However, the anti-abortion groups seem to have no trouble getting their message out on CBS airwaves and billboards, while NORML is denied four times in two years the opportunity to pay to use the same airwaves and billboards.

I also find it interesting that the groups whose messages are accepted by CBS are trying to criminalize a legal activity (abortion), a policy position only supported by 42% of the American people surveyed in the latest Quinnipiac University poll; whereas NORML’s message of legalization rejected by CBS is a policy position supported by 44% to 53% of the American people surveyed lately by Gallup and Angus Reid. Even more interesting when CBS itself polled support for legalization at 41%.