Queens Eagle
Queens leads the five boroughs in low-level marijuana possession cases — misdemeanor charges that have drastically decreased in volume under new NYPD protocols but are still marked by stunning racial disparities.
The number of unlawful, fourth- and fifth-degree marijuana possession cases have dropped significantly in Queens this year, but the borough accounts for more low-level weed prosecutions than Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island combined, according to client data compiled by The Legal Aid Society, which represents about half the indigent defendants in New York City.
And while low-level marijuana arrests have decreased by more than 88 percent citywide, racial disparities in who gets busted for weed possession have actually gotten worse.
In fact, nearly every single person busted for low-level weed possession in New York City was Black or Latinx during the first three months of this year, according to data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, which was provided by the NYPD. Of the 476 people arrested for fifth-degree marijuana possession citywide, just 20 were white, according to the data set. The other 456 people arrested — more than 95 percent — were people of color.
People of color accounted for 93 percent of the 4,081 people arrested for fifth-degree marijuana possession during the first three months of 2018. Fifth-degree marijuana possession includes smoking in public or possessing more than 25 grams of marijuana.
“Even though arrests are down, the racial disparities are increasing. And they’re meaningful. You can see who they are targeting for sale and possession,” said Robert Gangi, director of the Police Reform Organizing Project, which obtained and shared the data from the state.
17 comments:
Bullshit! Most white folk don't smoke weed in places where they might get arrested. Many others don’t give shit and act before they think. It is what it is.
Take a ride in Manhattan once in a while. It smells like pot everywhere in the future congestion pricing zone. A lot of tokers are white and they certainly don't live in South Queens. Note the super low stats in majority hipster overpopulated Brooklyn too.
Pot must be legalized and should, but Mario's son is too much of a wuss to do it, either that or certain lobbyists are telling him not to.
Even North Dakota has legalized pot. We are losing millions of dollars a day the more it stays criminalized.
Why not include Asian arrest numbers because they exceed the number of Whites in Queens. The logic that all crime must be equally done by everyone does not to justice to solving the overall problem.
Colored people love their weed.
NYC land of the brain dead since 1965 will reach new lows of dysfunctional behavior with weed as a socially acceptable recreation. Potheads - they spend their lives in smoke and eternity in flames.
That’s funny the people I see smoking pot on the subway are black & Hispanic
I also see them becoming extremely hostile & violent after smoking pot
@JQ LLC said... "Pot must be legalized and should"
Do you know the dangers of "Pot" ?
The problem I have with weed is it smells horrible and there is so many different types of potency. Your gonna have idiots zoning out (overdosing)behind the wheel of automobiles resulting in the worst lethal accidents you can have.
I cant even be in the same room with somebody smoking that shit, It makes me feel like I'm in a trance, nauseous. I cant believe people actually WANT to feel like shit. They fed me pot laced brownies in Amsterdam and I got so spaced out in the street the whores dragged me to the police station (I think one was a tranny) "This American is dying!!!
Embarrassing, THE WORST, the shits poison IMO!!!
And they say pot is good for all the already mentally defective hipsters and sick people?
@Anon re: dangers.
Yes, none. There are no dangers of pot at all. I am not even going to bother with the whataboutism of the thousands of other drugs that are legal from pharmaceuticals to tobacco to liquid spirits and the dangers of those.
@Gino
Understandable, I feel the same way about cigars. I'm really not affected by second hand smoke. And pot makes me feel nice, creative and frankly, sober.
@Anon re: colored
As a white man, yes I love the kind myself.
We're Number One!!!!
JQ LLC said..."Yes, none."
You JQ are very mistaken about the danngers od smoking pot !
You run a Blog and should not spread your confounded notion that smoking weed dose not have side effects.
From Web-MD
"Use of marijuana can cause nausea, vomiting, dry or red eyes, heart and blood pressure problems, lung problems, impaired mental functioning, headache, dizziness, numbness, panic reactions, hallucinations, flashbacks, depression, and sexual problems."
I didn't say it didn't cause side effects, I said there was no danger.
Cigarettes, booze, oxycontin, ritalin, etc etc are all legal and they all have side effects too. Prohibition of pot is an ass backwards policy and it has cost us trillions of dollars the last near hundred years with losing out on taxes selling it and the costs of incarcerating people for it.
This is news?
Eh, stay inside and stink up your own place with it, I don't care otherwise.
Nausea, vomiting, impaired mental functioning. unable to balance or stand up, cross-eye vision, is what happened to me I unknowingly ate 3 pot brownies in Amsterdam.
I think I even saw what looked like a ball of snakes or my brain & spinal cord in bright red flashes.
It was terrifying.
3 Pot brownies?. That's a lot to consume. It's like smoking a blunt by yourself.
I LOVE people who criticize pot, yet never have tried it or get their info from Web MD. Out of all the drugs on the market (illegal and legal), pot has the least amount of health effects if really any. Tobacco, alcohol and prescription drugs have detrimental health consequences that pot does not have AND no one has ever overdosed on pot, no such thing.
I am 60 years old, have been smoking pot on and off since I was 18. I am in excellent health (only take cholesterol medication and just recently), have held down a responsible job forever, pay my bills, actually have a nice savings account, have no criminal record, work out in the gym every day, am height/weight proportionate my entire life, function well in society. I more than likely would not be able to say that if my drug of choice was alcohol or tobacco, yet alone prescription drugs.
So the naysayers out there, know what the hell you are talking about.
AND POT should be legal. If anything tobacco should be ILLEGAL.
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