{"id":36726,"date":"2019-07-10T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T20:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/07\/10\/why-does-marijuana-decriminalization-not-include-concentrates\/"},"modified":"2019-07-12T00:59:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T08:59:58","slug":"why-does-marijuana-decriminalization-not-include-concentrates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2019\/07\/10\/why-does-marijuana-decriminalization-not-include-concentrates\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Does Marijuana Decriminalization Not Include Concentrates?"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

New York, the state with the America\u2019s most populous and one of its most visited cities, did not legalize marijuana this year. For a consolation prize, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers did pass what might look like the next-best thing:\u00a0decriminalization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As soon as Cuomo signs the bill into law, possession of up to two ounces of cannabis flower will be a \u201cviolation,\u201d punishable by a fine of \u201cno more than $200.\u201d Someone caught with less than an ounce can be punished no more severely than with a $50 fine, but an ounce of flower, only.<\/p>\n

For anyone possessing cannabis concentrates \u2014 including, strictly legally speaking, the contents of\u00a0vape pens<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the same old bad laws are still in effect. The same is true in other states and cities that have separate statutes for flower and concentrated cannabis, and that have failed to change one while altering the other.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just bad policy, advocates say.<\/p>\n

The change in state law follows Cuomo\u2019s failure to legalize, but it also follows moves made by district attorneys in Manhattan and Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Last summer, prosecutors in those two boroughs announced they would stop prosecuting low-level possession cases, and could police \u2014 whose hard work made New York City one of the most punitive places in the United States for marijuana, with more arrests per capita than deep-red states like\u00a0Oklahoma<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 please stop bringing them such weak cases?<\/p>\n

They did stop. And that, in turn, led to a decent-sized explosion in the cannabis industry, with emboldened delivery services more and more aggressively marketing their product to more and more emboldened cannabis users.<\/p>\n

(Reader, I can tell you: It is easier than ever before to obtain and consume cannabis in New York City, a place where not too long ago, police were thrilled to make possession arrests.)<\/p>\n

However, the harsh marijuana penalties were still on the books, and \u201cdecriminalization\u201d was only as good as the local DA \u2014 a promise, and not a guarantee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statewide decriminalization bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey, specifically reduced penalties for \u201cunlawful possession\u201d of less than an ounce to $50. And \u201cone or more preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances containing marihuana and the preparations, compounds, mixtures or substances are of an aggregate weight of more than one ounce\u201d is punishable by a $200 fine.<\/p>\n

At first glance, that definition might seem to capture concentrates\u2014at least, it should. But, according to advocates and defense attorneys, it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Concentrates are defined separately from \u201cmarihuana,\u201d under New York Penal Law 220, which Bailey\u2019s bill does not change.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess than an ounce of cannabis concentrate may lead to a felony charge,\u201d\u00a0warns attorney Stephanie Selloni, a Long Island-based criminal defense lawyer, on her website<\/a>. Very simple possession \u2014 getting hassled for a vape pen, or being found with a gram or two of shatter \u2014 is a misdemeanor, punishable by a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.<\/p>\n

Realistically, New York City is not suddenly a forbidden zone for cannabis concentrates.\u00a0In March, NYPD told a City Council hearing<\/a>\u00a0that they wouldn\u2019t bother making \u201cTHC oil\u201d arrests, unless the oil in question contained the same compounds found in synthetic concoctions like K2 \u2014 sales of which are banned in the state, yet still happen at corner stores and gas stations.<\/p>\n

But plenty of New York is not in New York City. And at the same time, there\u2019s still a law on the books criminalizing concentrates, which, in a pharmacological sense, are very similar to flower cannabis, with the same active ingredients: tetrahydrocannabinol (and other cannabinoids), and terpenes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Treating them differently legally, especially in an era when concentrates continue to grow in popularity, makes zero sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe notion of decriminalizing flower while leaving criminal penalties in place for concentrates is analogous to giving a parking ticket to a car while impounding a truck for the same expired meter,\u201d Justin Strekal, NORML\u2019s political directo, told Cannabis Now in an email. \u201cIt is disingenuous to make the distinction and results in perpetuating the failed policies of the War on Drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

TELL US<\/strong>, does it make sense to you to have stricter penalties for cannabis concentrates versus cannabis flowers?<\/p>\n

The post Why Does Marijuana Decriminalization Not Include Concentrates?<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: Why Does Marijuana Decriminalization Not Include Concentrates?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York, the state with the America\u2019s most populous and one of its most visited cities, did not legalize marijuana this year. For a consolation prize, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers did pass what might look like the next-best thing:\u00a0decriminalization. As soon as Cuomo signs the bill into law,Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,240,94,3920,687,208,593,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36727,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36726\/revisions\/36727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}