New York City has
long held the unfortunate distinction as the “Marijuana Arrest Capital
of the World.” It is a title the city earned after years of heavy-handed
enforcement of low-level marijuana possession cases, which served
virtually no public safety purpose and clogged our court system in the
process.
The brunt of the marijuana enforcement has been felt by communities of color, where upwards of 80 to 90 percent of marijuana arrests have occurred annually. The vast racial disparity is appalling, especially since surveys consistently showed, and continue to show, that people of all races use marijuana at a similar rate.
In 2014, Mayor de Blasio pledged to fundamentally change the city’s approach to low-level marijuana possession, by treating such cases as a violation, instead of a misdemeanor offense.
While the total number of marijuana arrests initially declined after the new policy was enacted, too many people — almost 17,000 last year — are still arrested for marijuana possession. More importantly, the sharp racial disparity still persists. In 2017, 86 percent of those arrested for low-level marijuana possession were either black or Latino.
The bottom line is that marijuana enforcement continues to be a social justice issue.
In order to further examine the city’s enforcement of marijuana laws, we convened a City Council hearing last week and set out to find answers: Why has the decline in marijuana arrests stalled? Why are communities of color still disproportionately impacted?
Dating back to the days of Bill Bratton, the NYPD has consistently said that its marijuana enforcement reflects the communities from which it receives 911 and 311 calls. So, prior to the hearing, we asked the NYPD to back up its claim by providing the Council with the number of marijuana arrests and summonses by precinct, and the number of 911 and 311 calls in each precinct related to marijuana.
However, the NYPD failed to provide our committees with any data before the hearing. It was incomprehensible. The department consistently uses this information as its rationale for current marijuana enforcement, yet it was unwilling to provide it to the public or give it to Council members trying to perform necessary oversight. At the same time, the NYPD repeated its claim during the hearing that marijuana enforcement was driven by community complaints.
We made clear to the NYPD that we needed to see specific numbers to fully understand what is driving the unjust racial disparity in marijuana arrests. We pressed it to come clean and immediately provide us with the numbers it did have. Hours after the hearing concluded, we finally received the data we demanded from the NYPD.
It seems clear why the department didn’t want the Council to be able to ask about specific numbers.
Despite what the NYPD told our committees, the data completely undercuts its argument that marijuana enforcement has been driven by community complaints.
For example, last year the 105th Precinct, a majority African-American precinct in Queens, had more than 2,500 low-level marijuana arrests and summonses — more than any other precinct in the city — even though it only received 253 calls from the community related to marijuana. On the other hand, the 90th Precinct, a majority white precinct in Brooklyn covering mostly Williamsburg, received 451 community calls but had only 300 arrests and summonses for marijuana.
Precincts all across the city receive marijuana-related complaints, but possession arrests are still overwhelmingly contained to communities of color.
The days of stop, question and frisk are supposed to be over, but its effect lives on in the city’s enforcement of marijuana laws. We cannot and will not accept this unjust enforcement as the new normal.
New York City has a lot of work to do to finally shed the label “Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World.” It starts with an honest discussion and a proper analysis of all the data. We look forward to having the NYPD leadership testify in front of the City Council, again, with this data now publicly available.
The brunt of the marijuana enforcement has been felt by communities of color, where upwards of 80 to 90 percent of marijuana arrests have occurred annually. The vast racial disparity is appalling, especially since surveys consistently showed, and continue to show, that people of all races use marijuana at a similar rate.
In 2014, Mayor de Blasio pledged to fundamentally change the city’s approach to low-level marijuana possession, by treating such cases as a violation, instead of a misdemeanor offense.
While the total number of marijuana arrests initially declined after the new policy was enacted, too many people — almost 17,000 last year — are still arrested for marijuana possession. More importantly, the sharp racial disparity still persists. In 2017, 86 percent of those arrested for low-level marijuana possession were either black or Latino.
The bottom line is that marijuana enforcement continues to be a social justice issue.
In order to further examine the city’s enforcement of marijuana laws, we convened a City Council hearing last week and set out to find answers: Why has the decline in marijuana arrests stalled? Why are communities of color still disproportionately impacted?
Dating back to the days of Bill Bratton, the NYPD has consistently said that its marijuana enforcement reflects the communities from which it receives 911 and 311 calls. So, prior to the hearing, we asked the NYPD to back up its claim by providing the Council with the number of marijuana arrests and summonses by precinct, and the number of 911 and 311 calls in each precinct related to marijuana.
However, the NYPD failed to provide our committees with any data before the hearing. It was incomprehensible. The department consistently uses this information as its rationale for current marijuana enforcement, yet it was unwilling to provide it to the public or give it to Council members trying to perform necessary oversight. At the same time, the NYPD repeated its claim during the hearing that marijuana enforcement was driven by community complaints.
We made clear to the NYPD that we needed to see specific numbers to fully understand what is driving the unjust racial disparity in marijuana arrests. We pressed it to come clean and immediately provide us with the numbers it did have. Hours after the hearing concluded, we finally received the data we demanded from the NYPD.
It seems clear why the department didn’t want the Council to be able to ask about specific numbers.
Despite what the NYPD told our committees, the data completely undercuts its argument that marijuana enforcement has been driven by community complaints.
For example, last year the 105th Precinct, a majority African-American precinct in Queens, had more than 2,500 low-level marijuana arrests and summonses — more than any other precinct in the city — even though it only received 253 calls from the community related to marijuana. On the other hand, the 90th Precinct, a majority white precinct in Brooklyn covering mostly Williamsburg, received 451 community calls but had only 300 arrests and summonses for marijuana.
Precincts all across the city receive marijuana-related complaints, but possession arrests are still overwhelmingly contained to communities of color.
The days of stop, question and frisk are supposed to be over, but its effect lives on in the city’s enforcement of marijuana laws. We cannot and will not accept this unjust enforcement as the new normal.
New York City has a lot of work to do to finally shed the label “Marijuana Arrest Capital of the World.” It starts with an honest discussion and a proper analysis of all the data. We look forward to having the NYPD leadership testify in front of the City Council, again, with this data now publicly available.
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