New York City

NYC: pot arrests down following police commish order

Posted on December 9th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

New York CityArrests for low-level pot possession dropped in the weeks after New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly warned officers not to make arrests for small quantities found in pockets or bags, according to new data released Dec. 7. Kelly issued the internal order Sept. 19 after claims from civil rights groups that officers were wrongly arresting people in a state where personal possession is punishable with a fine. There are more arrests on cannabis charges—about 50,000 a year—than any other crime in New York City. Pot cases account for about one of every seven that turn up in criminal courts.

Activist Dana Beal sentenced, suffers heart attack

Posted on September 30th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

Dana BealLongtime activist Dana Beal has suffered a heart attack while in a Wisconsin jail awaiting transfer to a state prison to begin serving a two-and-a-half year term for marijuana trafficking. Beal was stricken on the morning of Sept. 27, and at last report was hospitalized in stable condition at the intensive care unit at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison.

NYPD commish calls on cops to halt improper cannabis busts

Posted on September 23rd, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , , .

New York CityPolice Commissioner Ray Kelly has issued an internal order to the New York City Police Department directing officers to stop making arresting for small quantities of marijuana, if the marijuana was never in public view. The directive, leaked to radio station WNYC, comes as the NYPD is under heat over alleged improper marijuana arrests.

Jamaica: shock in Kingston as Dudus Coke cuts deal

Posted on September 4th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

CaribbeanResidents of Kington's poor district of Tivoli Gardens reacted with shock and disbelief to the news that extradited accused drug kingpin Christopher "Dudus" Coke arranged a plea bargain this week at Federal District Court in Manhattan. "I'm devastated," one anonymous member of the Coke clan told the Jamaica Gleaner. Scores were killed in days of street-fighting in the district last year as police and army troops were deployed to hunt down Coke for extradition to the US.

New Yorkers don't know their rights, investigation finds

Posted on May 9th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

New York CityAn investigation by WNYC Radio into the New York Police Department's often illegal and racially discriminatory wave of arrests for misdemeanor cannabis possession finds that the police exploit citizens' ignorance of their rights. Out of the more than 50,000 arrests for possession in New York City last year, almost no one challenged the legality of the manner they were searched. And when the cases were thrown out—as many as 10 to 15 times every day in the Bronx alone—it was usually because police accidentally admitted they violated the rights of the person they searched.

NYC: 2010 cannabis arrests top 1978-96 total

Posted on February 17th, 2011 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

New York City More people were arrested last year in New York City for cannabis possession than in the entire 19-year period from 1978 to 1996, according to an analysis released Feb. 11 by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), drawing on figures from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. In 2010—the sixth year in a row that possession arrests increased—50,383 were busted for low-level cannabis offenses.

New York-Florida arrests in Operation Green Venom

Posted on October 19th, 2010 by Bilbo and tagged , , , , , , , .

New York CityAfter a widely publicized series of raids from Florida to New York City, on Oct. 5 the US Attorney's Southern District Office in Manhattan "announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging ten individuals and a complaint charging 40 individuals with participating in a massive marijuana trafficking ring that transported ton-quantities of marijuana from Florida and California for distribution in the greater New York area from the early 1990's to 2010."

New York passes law banning "stop and frisk" database

Posted on July 19th, 2010 by Global Ganja Report and tagged , , , , .

New York CityNew York Gov. David Paterson on July 16 signed a bill prohibiting the retention of personal information on individuals detained by New York City police during a "stop and frisk" but ultimately not charged with a crime. The law was approved by the New York Assembly last month and will end the practice of police obtaining and keeping an electronic record of all individuals who are temporarily detained based on a police officer's reasonable suspicion.

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