Brown questions push to legalize recreational weed
BY BILL PARRY
While Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have
embraced the legalization
of recreational marijuana
consumption in recent weeks,
Queens District Attorney
Richard Brown wants to slow
down the process calling for a
robust and thoughtful public
debate on the issues.
Brown believes the issue
is one for the state Senate and
Assembly to hash out.
“The Legislature created
the law and I have long said
if the law is to be changed,
the legislature alone that
should change it,” Brown
said in a Dec. 20 statement.
“It should not be changed
simply by ignoring the laws
that currently exist.”
The New York State
Association of County Health
Officials called for Albany to
do the same and “approach
legislation thoughtfully
and with extreme caution,”
expressing their concerns
about “future high risk” of
addiction to other drugs,
harmful cognitive and
academic effects, adverse
cardiac and respiratory
events, unintentional
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown cautions against the rush
to legalize the consumption of recreational marijuana.
exposure to children and
motor vehicle accidents.
Earlier this year,
the NYSACHO issued a
memorandum opposing
legalization of recreational
marijuana.
“A study in Colorado
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released just this past
September stated that since
marijuana legalization in
Colorado, marijuana related
traffic deaths increased
151 percent and all traffic
deaths by 35 percent,”
Brown said. “Colorado’s past
month marijuana use shows
an increase of 45 percent
compared to the three
year average prior to the
legalization of recreational
marijuana in the state.
Colorado’s past month
marijuana use for ages 12
and older is ranked third in
the nation and is 85 percent
higher that the national
average. The yearly rate of
emergency room visits related
to marijuana increased by 52
percent after legalization.”
The district attorney
added that no state which
has legalized recreational
marijuana has legalized the
public burning or smoking
while driving. While New
York doesn’t intend to, Brown
notes the vast majority of
arrests for marijuana stems
from those activities.
“So however violations of
the new law are classified, we
may face the same disparity
issues we currently face now,”
Brown said. “Respectfully I
don’t believe anyone can say
that legalization is a positive
step for our society or our
children. If memory serves me
correctly, until fairly recently
both the governor and the
mayor felt the same way.”
City Councilman Rory
Lancman, one of three
candidates to announce a run
for the Queens DA’s office
in 2019, took umbrage with
Brown’s stance tweeting
“and not one word on Black/
Brown lives damaged by
criminalization?”
“I’m just amazed at the
DA’s eagerness to double down
on policies that belong in
another era,” Lancman said.
“His vehement opposition to
legalizing marijuana puts a
finger in the eye of criminal
justice reform. It’s the new
Jim Crow with its tremendous
impact on people of color who
get a lifetime criminal record
that inhibits their ability
to get an education, a job or
housing.”
Borough President Melinda
Katz and retired Supreme
Court Justice Gregory Lasak
have also announced bids
for Queens DA. Richard
Brown, 85, has held the office
since 1991 but he has yet to
determine whether he will
run for re-election.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
State reforms could reduce NYC jail population: Lippman
BY BILL PARRY
With the 2018 legislative
session convening in Albany
Jan. 9, the Independent
Commission on New York
City Criminal Justice and
Incarceration Reform released
a report detailing the progress
made toward closing Rikers
Island and outlining how key
state-level criminal justice
reforms around bail, open
discovery, speedy trial and
parole ultimately could reduce
the city’s jail population by
more than 3,000 people.
This projection comes at a
time when the city has already
experienced a steady decline
in jail population, including
the reduction from 9,753
inmates to 8,254 in a two year
period from September 2016 to
September 2018.
“Since the Commission
released ‘A More Just City,’
our blueprint for increasing
fairness and public safety
in April 2017, we have made
significant progress towards
the monumental goal of closing
the jails on Rikers Island once
and for all,” former New York
State Chief Judge Jonathan
Lippman, the commission’s
chair, said. “Local efforts to
reduce incarceration have
already helped reduce the jail
population by 1,500 people
over the past two years and
the city has identified sites
for borough-based facilities
in chich to house a smaller
criminal justice system.”
The progress report
projects jail population
reductions based on enacting
specific reforms such as
pretrial detention and ending
cash bail which could mean
2,000 less people in jail, case
processing for speedy trial
and discovery reform could
reduce the jail population by
another 800 people. Reforming
parole practices could mean
an additional 650 fewer
people in jail according to the
commission’s report.
“The coming year will be
decisive,” Lippman said. “In
With the prison population on Rikers Island falling by 1,500 in two
years, the Lippman commission calls on the state Legislature for
reforms that can reduce it by more than 3,000 more.
Albany, with new leadership in
the state Senate, we have a real
opportunity for meaningful
reforms that could reduce the
number of people in jail by
more than 3,000.”
In Queens, the boroughbased
proposal would
redevelop the dormant Queens
File Photo
Detention Center complex —
located at 126-02 82nd Ave. in
Kew Gardens, adjacent to the
Queens Criminal Courthouse
— and the nearby municipal
parking lot into a correction
center with space for 1,150
prisoner beds. Community
and civic organizations are
gearing up for a fight like the
one groups in Manhattan put
up that caused the city to scrap
its plans for a detention center
at 80 Centre St. last month.
“Here in New York City,
the public land use process for
siting borough-based facilities
is set to occur throughout 2019,
a critically important hurdle
to traverse in closing Rikers
as soon as possible,” Lippman
said. “The road ahead will
undoubtedly be challenging,
yet the near-daily reports of
inhumane conditions in our
local jail system are stark
reminders of the urgent need
to act now to end incarceration
on Rikers.”
In the report, the
Commission reiterates its call
for the city to identify ways to
reduce the size of the proposed
borough facilities, such as
lowering bed capacity.
Reach reporter Bill
Parry by e-mail at bparry@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
4 TIMESLEDGER, JAN. 4-10, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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