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Bloomberg Backs Plan to Limit Arrests for Marijuana
New York Times ^ | June 4, 2012 | Thomas Kaplan

Posted on 06/05/2012 8:32:50 AM PDT by C19fan

The New York Police Department, the mayor and the city’s top prosecutors on Monday endorsed a proposal to decriminalize the open possession of small amounts of marijuana, giving an unexpected lift to an effort by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to cut down on the number of people arrested as a result of police stops.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: bloomberg; marijuana
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To: C19fan

This is exactly why people despise politicians


21 posted on 06/05/2012 8:50:28 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Fat, drunk and stupid = Dumb, dependent, and Democrat)
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To: C19fan

Catch-22...it generates more revenue and less cost to bust people for the slurpee...this way, people get high, develop a thirst and buy big drinks.

Devious, to say the least.


22 posted on 06/05/2012 8:51:20 AM PDT by stuartcr ("When silence speaks, it speaks only to those that have already decided what they want to hear.")
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To: C19fan

40-ouncers of malt liquor are also still okay in Herr Bloomie’s world.


23 posted on 06/05/2012 8:53:01 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Washington could not tell a lie, Nixon could not tell the truth, Obama can't tell the difference.)
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To: C19fan

Just what I was going to say. The guy is a loon. Also don’t forget if you donate food to the homeless he will confiscate it and if you smoke a cigarette in a park or in Times square in the street you’ll be busted. Oh yes and in your apartment. That was his latest decree last month - He wanted all landlords to send him a list of all the people who smoke in their apartments. Maybe next he will demand smokers wear the letter “S” on their arms and have the cops write “Smoker” on peoples windows.

What’s incredible to me is this a-hole has absolutely no authority whatsoever to do any of this crap yet people think he does. How about if he banned ipods or cellphones or computers or clothes? He demanded everyone walk around naked or banned food or banned breathing, would people still think he has the authority ? He just spews out his shiet week after week month after month without any approval from anybody without any protest from anybody, even Chuck Schumer is silent who holds press conferences at the drop of a hat, which is all why I claim New York city is run under despotism, because it freakin is!


24 posted on 06/05/2012 8:54:06 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Some day our schools will teach the difference between "lose" and "loose")
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To: C19fan
Bloomie and Status Cuomo: hell-bent on driving the final nails into the coffin on the State of New York.
25 posted on 06/05/2012 9:00:01 AM PDT by MichaelCorleone (Forget the GOP and build the Constitution Party, because the status quo is no longer the way to go.)
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To: C19fan

Chicago has already done this. And quite frankly I think it’s a good idea. When it comes to “What do we need the cops to do?”, busting people for smoking marijuana is pretty low on my priority list.


26 posted on 06/05/2012 9:00:20 AM PDT by RonF
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To: C19fan
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, whose Police Department made about 50,000 arrests last year for low-level marijuana possession...

Arrested. Not incarcerated.

27 posted on 06/05/2012 9:02:16 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Congrats to Ted Kennedy! He's been sober for two years now!!)
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To: RonF

Completely correct. And not that marijuana is a good thing or that smoking it is wise.

It’s a harmful vice, but not nearly as harmful as enforcing its prohibition.


28 posted on 06/05/2012 9:05:26 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: All

if they allow medicinal pot (vs not enforcing the law) then those “patients” should immediatly have their driver licence susptended for the duration of their treatment.


29 posted on 06/05/2012 9:07:28 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: ChiefJayStrongbow

Here’s what isn’t mentioned:

The current low level marijuana laws in NYC are unenforceable because they are morally repugnant to the vast majority of street beat cops.

Definitely over 30% of street beat cops in NYPD have used marijuana, and it’s probably closer to 80% have used it. Nearly 100% of NYPD street beat cops know people who both smoke marijuana and live productive and normal lives.

And yes, the street beat cops also know about the total fuck ups, but you rarely if ever see a total fuck up who only uses marijuana in NYC. IT is not a gateway drug in NYC, marijuana is now the drug of choice of people who consciously choose to NOT destroy themselves. There are plenty of ways and plenty of drugs available to destroy oneself in NYC, the end user has to repeatedly refuse offers for these harder drugs on a normal basis.

in NYC there is heroin that is now cheaper per high than marijuana, cocaine that is cheaper per high than marijuana.

Lethargic fatass stoners in NYC don’t last long, they get evicted and go be poor somewhere else.

On the other end of the spectrum, the artistic/creative industry people in NYC represent a much larger percentage of the marijuana user base in NYC than in the country in general, and they produce tens of billions of dollars in economic activity each year. Regular and casual and former marijuana users control much of the major industries in the city, and they are more powerful than the Drug Warriors industrial complex lobbyists who do not live, work and vote in NYC.


30 posted on 06/05/2012 9:10:51 AM PDT by JerseyHighlander
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To: C19fan
From what I understand, the law they are breaking is the public display of pot. The way the cops get these busts is by stopping people and forcing them to empty their pockets. If they have pot, they then arrest them for public display of pot.

So the cops are basically committing a felony (violation of 4th Amendment) so they can bust some low level pot offenders.

Glad I do not live in that fascist hell hole.
31 posted on 06/05/2012 9:11:23 AM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood

Which fascist hell hole do you live in?


32 posted on 06/05/2012 9:15:25 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: JerseyHighlander
Definitely over 30% of street beat cops in NYPD have used marijuana, and it’s probably closer to 80% have used it.

No they haven't.

33 posted on 06/05/2012 9:15:35 AM PDT by ansel12 (Massachusetts Governors, where the GOP now goes for it's Presidential candidates.)
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To: C19fan
You can walk around with pot but Bloomberg will send the cops after you if you are drinking a 32 oz slurpee???

YES! The nanny state at it's control-freak wackiest...

34 posted on 06/05/2012 9:18:53 AM PDT by GOPJ ( "A Dog In Every Pot" - freeper ETL)
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To: RonF
Chicago has already done this. And quite frankly I think it’s a good idea. When it comes to “What do we need the cops to do?”, busting people for smoking marijuana is pretty low on my priority list.

Marijuana in Ohio is essentially decriminalized. Apparently, people here have recognized tying up law enforcement, courts, jails and prisons for something less harmful than alcohol should not be a priority, either.

Somehow, the state has not rotted and fallen into Lake Erie, despite the ramblings of people who support the failed War on (some) Drugs.

35 posted on 06/05/2012 9:31:51 AM PDT by gdani
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To: longtermmemmory
Vicotin will impair you more than pot and is proscribed routinely. Alcohol will impair you more than pot and is perfectly legal without proscription. Do you believe that anyone who consumes a substance that can temporarily impair a person should surrender their drivers license?
36 posted on 06/05/2012 9:34:06 AM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: babble-on
Which fascist hell hole do you live in?

Washington state.
37 posted on 06/05/2012 9:39:20 AM PDT by microgood
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To: microgood
So the cops are basically committing a felony (violation of 4th Amendment) so they can bust some low level pot offenders.

No. It's like nailing "fare-beaters" who jump over the turnstiles instead of paying the subway fare. When they turned their attention to busting them, they found that a huge percentage were already wanted for assault, robbery, rape, and so on. Same with weed on the street, in about 90 percent of the cases. That's what the cops are looking for.

The change in safety for normal grown-ups—those not flying on drugs as they walk down the street—after Giuliani started these "public order" enforcement policies changed the city overnight. People started going out at night again, business boomed, hiring soared, etc.

Most small-use marijuana stops are winos and thugs, rather than white-knuckled, principled, Ron Paul-ites who talk about Ayn Rand, who are scarce in NYC. The real reason for this "relaxation" in enforcement is because it means fewer black arrests. That's good for those NYS Assemblymen who represent the relatives of felons from Brooklyn and upper Manhattan.

Giuliani understood law enforcement. Bloomberg understands . . . I'm not sure, maybe homosexuality?

38 posted on 06/05/2012 9:45:47 AM PDT by SamuraiScot
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To: SamuraiScot
Same with weed on the street, in about 90 percent of the cases

Cite?

39 posted on 06/05/2012 9:52:36 AM PDT by gdani
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To: longtermmemmory

if they allow medicinal pot (vs not enforcing the law) then those “patients” should immediatly have their driver licence susptended for the duration of their treatment.

<><><><

But only folks with prescription to medical pot?

I’d be a lot more worried about the oxycodone and vicodin impaired drivers than someone who smoked some pot.


40 posted on 06/05/2012 9:59:53 AM PDT by dmz
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