cannabisnews.com: NYCLU: City Is World’s ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital’





NYCLU: City Is World’s ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital’
Posted by CN Staff on April 30, 2008 at 15:02:02 PT
By The Associated Press
Source: New York Sun
New York -- Police busted nearly 400,000 people for carrying small amounts of pot in the last decade, making New York City the world leader in marijuana arrests, civil rights advocates said yesterday while unveiling a study criticizing the war on drugs.Police officials — who have long argued that the low level drug arrests help drive down more serious crime — countered by saying the report’s data was flawed and its findings misleading.
The study by Queens College sociologist Harry Levin, titled “Marijuana Arrest Crusade,” accused police of purposely singling out minorities during the 10-year crackdown. It said that data provided by state Division of Criminal Justice Services showed that between 1997 and 2007, 52% of the suspects were black, 31% Hispanic, and only 15% white.The findings are further proof that “racial profiling is a fact of life on the streets of New York,” the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Donna Lieberman, told a news conference.Laws were revised in the late 1970s to largely decriminalize carrying small, concealed stashes of marijuana, Mr. Levin said. But he claimed police routinely “manufacture” arrests for possession in public view — still a misdemeanor — by stopping young black men on the street and goading them into emptying their pockets.According to the study, arrests for marijuana possession began skyrocketing in the late 1990s during the Giuliani administration — a trend that continued under Mayor Bloomberg at an estimated cost of between $50 and $90 million a year. There were 39,700 arrests last year alone, according to the study.The 2007 total makes the city “the marijuana arrest capital of the world,” Ms. Lieberman said.Police disputed the study’s finding that most of the misdemeanor arrests involved suspects carrying only a few grams of marijuana inside “blunts” or small plastic bags. Typically, they said, the suspects were either smoking pot in public or carrying more weight: Between about one and eight ounces.The NYPD spokesman, Paul Browne, called Mr. Levin an “advocate for marijuana legalization,” and accused the NYCLU of using the sociologist “to mislead the public with absurdly inflated numbers and false claims about bias.”Source: New York Sun, The (NY)Published: April 30, 2008Copyright: 2008 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.Contact: editor nysun.comWebsite: http://www.nysun.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by rchandar on May 01, 2008 at 15:08:06 PT:
The Album
The album was by Public Enemy--rap's premier talent. It was released in 1990, called "Fear of a Black Planet".It was a good listen. And it said so much.rchandar
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Comment #3 posted by John Tyler on April 30, 2008 at 19:54:33 PT
racist purpose
That is one of the uses of the anti-cannabis laws. The cops use it as a primary excuse to harass minorities. Without this law they wouldn’t be able do this. I'm surprised that the media and other haven't noticed before.  
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 15:55:30 PT
AP: Pot Farms Hide in Quiet Homes Across U.S. 
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-30-pot-farms_N.htm
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 30, 2008 at 15:44:49 PT
Related Article From The New York Magazine
New York Is King of the World for Pot Arrests***April 30, 2008New York -- Have you been busted for weed lately? Are you, by any chance, not of the Caucasian persuasion? A new study reveals that, in the last ten years, police made nearly 400,000 busts for marijuana possession in New York City, making us the world leader in marijuana arrests. Also, most of the arrestees have been African-American. The study, by Queens College sociologist Harry Levin (not to be mistaken for TMZ mastermind Harvey Levin, though we suppose he is kind of a sociologist, in a way), accused police of purposely singling out minorities during the decade-long crackdown, with 52 percent of the suspects being black, 31 percent Hispanic, and only 15 percent white. According to the New York Sun, Levin claims that cops routinely “manufacture” arrests for possession in public view by stopping young black men on the street and impelling them to empty their pockets.The study reports that arrests for marijuana possession began skyrocketing in the late nineties, during the Giuliani administration — a trend that continued under Mayor Bloomberg at an estimated cost of between $50 and $90 million a year (which, by the way, could buy a lot of weed). Naturally, the NYPD accuses the study of being misleading and “absurdly” inflating numbers. But, just to be safe, you should probably stop carrying pot on your person and stop being black. We highly recommend sitting at home alone and abusing Adderall, enjoying in privacy one’s own neuroses, preferably while sobbing. NYCLU: City Is World’s ‘Marijuana Arrest Capital’ [NYS]Copyright: 2008, New York Media Holdings LLC. http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/04/nyc_is_king_of_the_world_for_p.html
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