'An Exceptional Victory': NYPD Marijuana Policy Change | Marijuana and Cannabis News

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'An Exceptional Victory': NYPD Marijuana Policy Change

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in Global, News

Monday, September 26, 2011 at 11:20 am

Ethan Nadelmann, executive director, Drug Policy Alliance: "It's evidence that collectively, activists and community leaders and academics and elected officals can really transform a policy. "

Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, spoke with the Village Voice (owned by the same parent company as Toke of the Town) after the stunning news that the NYPD has suddenly reversed course and announced that it will follow the law and stop arresting New Yorkers for low level marijuana possession that is not in public view.

"At first, I was suspicious," Nadelmann said. "Is this really what it says it is? And when I read it closely, it looks like it really is a change in policy. That [Commissioner] Kelly is telling the police to stop arresting people when marijuana pops up in somebody's pocket in a search. And that's a big change."

Nadelmann called the NYPD policy change -- in which the department agrees to finally, actually follow New York state's marijuana decriminalization law, passed 34 years ago in 1977 -- "an exceptional victory."

"It's evidence that collectively, activists and community leaders and academics and elected officials can really transform a policy," Nadelmann said.

Don't miss the rest of Nadelmann's interview with Stephen Thrasher of the Village Voice: "Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance Responds to the Big NYPD Marijuana News"