APNewsBreak: NYC marijuana arrests drop moderately

[hrmjustin]

JENNIFER PELTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — Minor marijuana arrests in New York City have plunged in recent years amid questions about police tactics. But new statistics show the arrests dropped more modestly in the first three months of a new mayoral administration that has pledged to reduce them.

Arrests for the lowest-level marijuana crime fell 34 percent in the first quarter of 2013 — and 9 percent in the first quarter of this year, to roughly 7,000, according to state Division of Criminal Justice Services data obtained by The Associated Press. Both comparisons are to the same period in the previous years.

Police Commissioner William Bratton recently said the department is "attempting to use a lot more discretion" and decreasing the arrests, which Mayor Bill de Blasio decried during his campaign last year.

http://www.fltimes.com/news/state/article_0bd16d63-e2e1-55aa-8d8c-1f6df4cc22a2.html?mode=jqm

[hrmjustin]

1. Another Voice: Broadly supported medical marijuana bill would ease suffering among New Yorkers

http://www.buffalonews.com/opinion/another-voice/another-voice-broadly-supported-medical-marijuana-bill-would-ease-suffering-among-new-yorkers-20140509