This case is about arrests for marijuana possession in New York City. On June 22, 2012, a group of individuals who had been arrested for possession of marijuana "open to public view" despite not having any visible filed this lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court for the County of New York. The plaintiffs sued New York City and its police department (the NYPD) under state law. Represented by the Legal Aid Society and private counsel, the plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief. They claimed that the NYPD had violated state law, which mandated that police issue a ticket rather than arrest individuals for possession of marijuana.

The Marihuana Reform Act of 1977 had sought to reduce penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Instead of arresting people with marijuana, the Reform Act created a provision for police to issue an appearance ticket. The appearance ticket was like a traffic ticket, requiring that a defendant appear in court on some future date rather than undergo the full arrest process, which included an immediate detention period of at least 24 hours. Before the passage of the law, there were around 25,000 marijuana arrests each year. By the early 1990s, that number had dropped to under 1,000. However, in the early 2010s, there were over 50,000 such arrests each year. On September 19, 2011, the Police Commissioner had issued an operation order acknowledging the violation of state law and ordering police to comply.

As of September 4, 2021, the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system shows no other developments in this case. Its status is listed as "Pre-RJI," meaning no Request for Judicial Intervention has been filed, which is used to get a judge assigned to the case. The case is probably closed.

Lauren Yu - 09/04/2021


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