Despite marijuana possession being decriminalized in New York, in the last twenty years the police in New York State have still made more than 800,000 arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana. Tens of thousands of people are impacted every year by marijuana criminalization in New York State, and low-level marijuana possession is one of the top arrests in the state.
In New York, marijuana decriminalization has fallen short and will continue to do so. It has not succeeded in curbing the costs or the harms of prohibition and has instead made the need for reform clearer.
