Ex-DEA Administrator Peter Bensinger
For New York Daily News
The announcement by Mayor de Blasio that the NYPD would not be making arrests for small amounts of marijuana is in defiance of federal law and the laws of almost every country around the world.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana is still a violation of New York State law.
There is a misperception that our prisons and jails are full of offenders arrested for the possession or use of marijuana, when in fact, out of the 1,341,804 inmates in state prisons, less than one-third of 1% are there for the simple possession or use of marijuana.
Less than a handful of individuals in any big-city jail are there for the use or possession of marijuana.
New York City and the United States have to ask whether we enforce the laws we have or ask Congress or the state Legislature to make changes and penalties.
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