Smoking Pot To Get A Lot Less Risky In NY

NEW YORK — While it's not yet legal, smoking marijuana in New York will soon be a lot less risky. State lawmakers in Albany passed a bill Thursday to further decriminalize pot after a push to fully legalize the drug died.

The measure would get rid of criminal penalties for possessing up to two ounces of marijuana and establish a process for New Yorkers to have certain pot convictions expunged. The bill is now headed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has expressed support for it.

Lawmakers cast the bill as a step to mitigate the harm that marijuana's illegal status has inflicted on black and Hispanic New Yorkers, who have made up a disproportionate share of those arrested under the current laws.

"While this legislation falls short of the goal of legalization of adult-use cannabis, the ability to create a mechanism for expungement, both retroactively and forward-looking, is a step in the right direction in finally ending the heavy-handed war on drugs that has decimated communities of color," state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, a Bronx Democrat who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

The bill was a sort of consolation for the Legislature's failure to fully legalize marijuana despite strong public support for doing so. Legalization was reportedly held up by disputes over how tax revenues should be spent and whether local governments would be able to opt in or out of the legal pot program.

Under Bailey's bill, possession of up to an once of marijuana will be a violation that can come with a $50 fine, down from the current penalty of $100. The offense of holding one to two ounces of pot will be downgraded from a misdemeanor to a violation with a possible penalty of $200.

The bill strikes a provision from current law that defines smoking marijuana in public, regardless of how much weed you have on you, as a misdemeanor crime. That indicates that New Yorkers won't be charged with a more serious offense just for lighting up.

The NYPD has taken a more lenient approach to public pot-smoking since last fall. But racial disparities in arrests have persisted because of exceptions to the light-touch policy, according to some advocates.

The legislation would also allow New Yorkers to have certain misdemeanor pot-related charges expunged from their criminal records. Those offenses can make it harder for people to find housing, jobs and basic services, lawmakers say.

Legislators pledged that the bill would not be the end of the state's push to right the wrongs of the current drug laws.

"This is not the final step, but it will lay the groundwork for full decriminalization and legalization in the future," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said in a statement.