New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told the NYPD this weekend that police should no longer arrest people who are caught smoking marijuana in public, according to a story on CNN. Under de Blasio’s new policy, officers would only issue summonses, similar to parking tickets, for smoking in public. The change comes as de Blasio begins to shine a spotlight on his new marijuana policy. On May 15, New York City District Attorney Cy Vance said that his office would cease prosecuting marijuana smoking and small-amount possession cases on August 1. That same day, de Blasio requested that the NYPD decide on changes to its marijuana policy within the next month, changes that would become policy at the end of the summer. In 2017, police made more than 5,500 arrests for smoking or possessing small amounts of marijuana in Manhattan alone. This new policy comes after recent reports found that those arrests for low-level marijuana use overwhelmingly target African-Americans and Hispanics.
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