On November 19, 2014, New York City will change its policy regarding the legality of possessing marijuana. Instead of arresting individuals who are in possession of the drug, there will simply be a fine starting at $100 for a first offense. Since the beginning of 2014, there have been 24,000 arrests affiliated with people possessing small amounts of recreational marijuana. This change will hopefully allow prosecutors to allot more time to deal with higher risk criminal cases, instead of petty misdemeanors regarding the use of recreational marijuana. The purpose of this alteration is also to allow more people to have the opportunity to get jobs and educational opportunities that would otherwise be denied to them if they had a misdemeanor for possessing marijuana on their record. This law only pertains to low level cases, meaning that arrests will only be exempted if the individuals do not have amounts of pot that exceed 25 grams. If an individual possesses more than that amount, arrests will be enacted.
The alteration of this law is a representation of how the general public has had the opportunity to create change in their community where they see fit. The fundamental American idea of "popular sovereignty" allows the people to decide where necessary changes must be made. This New York community has shown that arresting all individuals possessing marijuana is an impractical use of federal funds and prosecutor's time. Personally, I think this change is beneficial to the New York community because it will allow for the police and prosecutors to focus on cases that are more potentially harmful to the general community and will also give people that would otherwise be convicted for a minor mistake get a second chance.
Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/10/us/new-york-city-marijuana/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
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