Smoking Marijuana on the Streets of New York

By now everyone has heard that Colorado and Washington have “legalized” marijuana. These states are being studied carefully by the other 48 to determine whether they will follow suit.

At the present time, it’s still illegal to possess marijuana in the State of New York. However, the politicians and prosecutors’ offices are contemplating de-criminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The new District Attorney of Kings County actually just sent a memo to the police commissioner stating that his office is going to dismiss these types of minor cases.

Thus, it appears that change is in the wind. I don’t believe that New York will go as far as Colorado or Washington, but permitting “medical marijuana” to be dispensed on a trial basis is set to begin soon, probably to be followed by the de-criminalization of small amounts (under 5 grams?) of marijuana.

Nevertheless, at the present time (April 2014), you cannot smoke marijuana in public without running the risk of getting arrested. If this happens to you, call Michael Dreishpoon, Esq. (718-793-5555) to obtain top-notch legal representation from an attorney with 23-plus years of criminal defense experience.