Young Men's Initiative: The White Mayor's Burden

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http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-09-21/news/young-mens-initiative-bloomberg-white-mayor-s-burden/

Shortly before he first ran for office, Michael Bloomberg was asked by New York magazine if he had ever smoked marijuana.

"You bet I did. And I enjoyed it," he answered bluntly.

The quote would become the basis of an ad campaign by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, but it would never have any effect on Bloomberg's own practice of aggressively (and, some say, illegally) arresting people for the possession of even meager amounts of pot once he became mayor.

"In 1977, small amounts of marijuana were decriminalized in the New York State Legislature," says Kassandra Frederique of the Drug Policy Alliance. "So you can have up to 25 grams, which is seven-eighths of an ounce, on your person, and that would be a violation similar to jaywalking or traffic tickets." It's something that could carry a $100 fine, she explains, and is only an "arrestable offense . . . if it's in plain view or if it's burning."


Bloomberg’s annual average of low-level pot arrests is greater than all of Koch’s, Dinkins’s, and the first two years of Giuliani’s—combined.