BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
rsequeira@bronxtimes.com
If successful, advocates
of the state’s Marijuana Regulation
and Taxation Act
(MRTA) — which forms the
regulatory ecosystem for the
production and sale of cannabis,
creates a new adult-use
cannabis program and could
provide 30,000-60,000 jobs
citywide — believe it can systematically
benefi t the Black
and brown communities most
affected by its criminalization.
One of the boroughs most
impacted by cannabis enforcement
through disproportionate
over-policing and
over-sentencing of cannabisrelated
crimes, is the Bronx,
cannabis advocates and studies
say. MRTA, which was
signed into law by then-Gov.
Andrew Cuomo in March, follows
years of stop-start legislative
efforts.
Meanwhile, over the past
decade, Bronx communities
have been ravaged by
the criminalization of marijuana.
According to a decadelong
study of marijuana arrests
by NYC police precincts,
the Bronx’s 46th, 41st, 52nd
and 44th precincts accounted
for some of the city’s highest
marijuana arrest rates over
the last 10 years.
In a 2018 report published
by NYC Comptroller Scott
Stringer, a Democrat, the
Concourse, Highbridge and
Mount Eden sections of the
Bronx accounted for some
of the city’s highest average
marijuana-related arrest
rates with 8,143 total arrests
from 2010-2017.
Additionally, the Bedford
Park, Fordham North and
Norwood communities accounted
for 6,526 over that
same span, while the Morris
Heights, Fordham South
and Mount Hope sections saw
6,805 arrests through that
same seven-year time period.
In NYC, there were 437
marijuana possession arrests
in 2020, with 109 arrests
occurring in the Bronx, the
most out of the fi ve boroughs.
Advocates note that the
communities with the highest
level of marijuana enforcement
also had the
highest share of Black and
Hispanic residents.
In marijuana arrests between
2010 and August of
2019, there were eight times
as many arrests of Black and
Latinx people as there were of
white people.
How over-policing and
enforcement hurt a borough
This is Part 1 of a three-part series by the Bronx Times looking at the potential benefi ts New York
State’s legalization of marijuana, known as the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, could
have on the Bronx.
“Marijuana is a substance
that has been used by various
demographics of people and
races, but we saw a policing
that geared enforcement toward
people of color and communities,
particularly in the
Bronx,” said Eli Northup, policy
counsel for The Bronx Defenders,
a public defense organization.
Melissa Moore, state director
for Drug Policy Alliance’s
New York offi ce, said that the
increased criminalization of
marijuana in the Bronx was
not only racially and systemically
motivated, but also
left a generation of Bronxites
unable to fi nd stable employment
and housing due to the
negative impact marijuana
arrests have on background
and criminal checks.
“Recognizing that we can’t
move forward in New York,
into a new era of marijuana
justice, without acknowledging
the tremendous harm
that has come before, we’ve
seen decades and decades of
racist enforcement of marijuana
laws in New York,”
Moore told the Bronx Times.
“As we’re turning the page,
we can’t ignore that we know
that communities all across
New York and especially
communities in the Bronx
were over-policed, were targeted
systematically and that
led to issues that people have
faced with their criminal records.”
Arrests for marijuana possession
in New York City increased
from 1,038 arrests in
1990 to a peak of 51,589 in 2011
before declining to 18,241 arrests
in 2017, with Black and
Hispanic males experiencing
the highest rates of enforcement,
according to a study
BRONX TIMES R 8 EPORTER, SEPT. 3-9, 2021 BTR
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