Governor Cuomo delivered his State of the States address on Wednesday and announced a few new initiatives such as upping the minimum wage, increasing access to early education, and most importantly, decriminalizing weed. Technically, possession of 25 grams or less of pot — as long as it’s not in “open view” has been decriminalized since 1977, yet possession of a few grams in public, is a misdemeanor violation. According to a statement on the governor’s website, “Police arrest 100 times more people for this offense,” and the majority of these arrests are of black and Hispanic persons, otherwise the law would have been changed along time ago. So, Cuomo is proposing the decriminalization of 15 grams or less whether it’s in “open view” or not. Anyone caught with those amounts would still have their weed confiscated, but would get a civil citation and not a criminal charge on their record.
