Pubdate: Fri, 22 Mar 2013
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2013 The New York Times Company
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Jim Dwyer

OUT OF ONE GRAM OF MARIJUANA, A 'MANUFACTURED MISDEMEANOR'

For marijuana smokers in the right neighborhoods, there is no need to
go out for supplies. A dealer-businessman will come right to the door,
sit at the dining room table and open a box that looks as if it could
be used to display herbal tea choices in restaurants. This particular
case, however, is used to show varieties of cannabis - weed - and the
businessman will annotate the flavor and potency of his offerings.
Bought and smoked behind closed doors, the pot in such transactions
has almost no risk of attracting attention from law
enforcement.

That was not the system used by Joseph Griffin, then 18, one summer
night in the East New York section of Brooklyn. He walked a few blocks
down Herkimer Street, made a purchase and headed back to smoke it at
home.

"The plainclothes officers pulled up, and they asked me where I was
going," Mr. Griffin said. "I said, 'Home.' They jumped out. They was
patting me down. He went into my pocket and found it. Then they put
the handcuffs on."

Mr. Griffin spent the night in one jail or another, taken from the
precinct station to central booking and then to the courthouse in
Brooklyn. Up to that point, his case had absorbed the energy of two
police officers, a desk sergeant, a clerk who processed his paperwork
and fingerprints, a driver who transported him to booking, other
officers to secure him in the pen awaiting his appearance, a Legal Aid
Society lawyer, an assistant district attorney, a court clerk and a
court reporter to transcribe the proceedings.

Also, a judge, who instantly dismissed the case.

How much pot did Mr. Griffin have in his pocket that
night?

"I had a blunt," he said.

Just one?

"Yes," he said.

How much did it cost?

"Five dollars," he said.

A blunt, or marijuana cigarette, contains about one gram of marijuana,
about the weight of a dash of salt. Mr. Griffin had been charged with
the lowest-level misdemeanor on the books, Section 221.10, Subsection
1 of the New York State Penal Code. That statute makes it a crime to
burn or openly display even small amounts of marijuana.

Since Michael R. Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, no crime has been
more frequently charged: more than 440,000 people have been arrested
solely on this misdemeanor charge. Whites use marijuana at higher
rates than other racial groups, studies have found, but are rarely
accused of "openly displaying" it. Depending on the year, 85 percent
to 90 percent of those facing that charge are African-American or
Latino. Most are under 20.

These are called "manufactured misdemeanors" because carrying
marijuana in a pocket or bag is not a crime, but a violation. In New
York City, when people are either searched or told to empty their
pockets, the marijuana becomes open to public display, and therefore a
misdemeanor.

These arrests are a tumorous outgrowth of the stop-and-frisk practices
and are now broadly recognized as scandalous. No public official
defends them. Yet they remain out of control.

The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, issued an order in
September 2011 telling officers not to arrest people unless they were
actually displaying the marijuana. The arrests briefly dropped, but
were back in high gear for most of 2012, said Steve Banks, the lawyer
in charge of the Legal Aid Society, which is now suing the city.

Every district attorney in New York City, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Bloomberg,
the state sheriffs, and every other major law enforcement agency have
endorsed changing the law to make it a misdemeanor only if a person
were actually burning - smoking - the pot. The changes were proposed
by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Nevertheless, it became clear on Thursday that the law would not
change during the meetings of the Legislature to decide a state budget.

The proposed reforms "got caught in the horse trading and political
posturing," Assemblyman Karim Camara, a Brooklyn Democrat, said. At
one point, he said, the Senate Republicans offered to permit a vote on
the marijuana reforms in exchange for increasing the number of bullets
allowed in an ammunition magazine, to 10 from 7. "I think it's
unconscionable," he said.

Almost all of the misdemeanor marijuana arrests are in New York City.
"The way it is being viewed here is that the city should correct its
problem," State Senator Martin J. Golden, a Republican representing
Brooklyn, said.

Although he does not want the state to "send the wrong signals" on a
substance that is far more powerful than it was a decade ago, Mr.
Golden said change appears inevitable. "I do believe if it hit the
floor of the Senate, it would pass," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt