Key Points

New York City’s 400,000 marijuana arrests were…

• …racially skewed. From 1997 to 2007 police arrested and jailed nearly 220,000 blacks, more than 112,000 Latinos, but only 58,000 whites. Over that period, whites represented the largest percentage of the city’s population. Government surveys consistently show a higher rate of marijuana use among young whites than in other racial groups.




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• …extremely skewed by gender. About 91 percent of people arrested were male.




• …expensive. It cost up $90 million annually from 1997 to 2007 to arrest, jail and arraign people on marijuana charges.




• …ineffective in reducing serious and violent crime. The arrests may well increase crime by diverting police officers and resources from more effective anti-crime work.




• …often the result of stop, frisk and search encounters. In 2007, the NYPD stopped nearly 469,000 people. The vast majority (87 percent) of people stopped were innocent of any wrongdoing.

New York City’s 400,000 marijuana arrests were not…

…in line with the marijuana arrest rates of other large cities. New York City now arrests and jails more people for possessing marijuana than any city in the United States or the world.

…part of a similar increase in marijuana arrests nationwide. While marijuana arrests more than doubled in the U.S. from 1990 to 2000, they have spiked tenfold in New York City and now represent 10 percent of all arrests in the city.

…the result of an increase in marijuana use, which peaked nationally around 1980.

…primarily of people caught smoking marijuana in public. Most people arrested for marijuana possession in the city had small amounts of the drug concealed in their possessions, often in a pocket, purse or backpack.

…of people caught for more serious crimes who happened to be possessing marijuana. In all of these arrests, marijuana possession was the highest charge and often the only one.

…the result of people committing crimes. Simple possession of less than one ounce of marijuana is not a crime under New York state law, which classifies marijuana possession as a violation, like a traffic violation.

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