NYC Comptroller Report Calls for Taxation and Regulation of Marijuana for Adults

[Playinghardball]

DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT

New York City Comptroller John Liu announced the release of a report calling for a system to tax and regulate marijuana for adult recreational use. The report, to be released tomorrow, comes two days after Federal Judge Shira A. Scheindlin condemned the city's police department's use of stop and frisk – which has resulted in 600,000 unlawful arrests for marijuana possession since 1997 – as racially-biased. That same day, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called for Americans to rethink the "unintended consequences" of the war on drugs. Comptroller Liu's report details the problems associated with marijuana arrests in New York City -- including racial disparities and the impact of saddling young people with a permanent criminal arrest record -- and the overall financial costs of marijuana prohibition.

The report comes at a time when the federal government and states around the country are engaged in a significant review of drug policies generally and marijuana policies in particular. On Monday, Attorney General Holder noted that the war on drugs has resulted in "the decimation of certain communities, in particular of communities of color" and directed federal prosecutors to develop guidelines for some drug sentencing issues to be handled on the state or local level. Many states have already moved ahead with significant reforms to marijuana policy. Twenty states now permit the use of medical marijuana; fourteen states, including New York and, most recently, New Hampshire, have some kind of decriminalization law on the books; and voters in two states – Colorado and Washington – voted to end prohibition by taxing and regulating marijuana for recreational use for adults over the age of 21. By creating a regulatory regime, Colorado and Washington are bringing under the rule of law the production, sale and use of marijuana. Recent national surveys find that a majority of Americans now favor the legalization of marijuana.

"New Yorkers, like people elsewhere around the country, are questioning our broken polices related to marijuana," said gabriel sayegh, New York Director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Comptroller Liu's report offers another important opportunity for New Yorker to examine the issues and discuss the range of options for fixing these laws. An increasing number of elected officials in the City and state agree that our marijuana policies are broken—resulting in racial disparities, Constitutional violations, fiscal waste and needless suffering. While there may not be widespread agreement about how to fix these problems, it's critical that we have an open and vigorous debate about the issue."

Fixing New York's marijuana policies is urgently needed. New York arrests more people for marijuana possession than any state in the country, including California, Florida and Texas. According to a recent ACLU report, New York's marijuana possession arrest rate is 535 per 100,000, more than double the national rate of. In 2010, 97% of all marijuana offenses in New York were for possession only. The vast majority of those arrested (85%) are Black and Latino, mostly young men, even though numerous government studies report that young white men use marijuana at higher rates.

More at: http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18144-nyc-comptroller-taxation-regulation-marijuana

[In_The_Wind]

1. It's a step in the right direction.

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