Mayor to tell NYPD to stop arresting New Yorkers for smoking pot in public
NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will tell the NYPD to stop arresting people for public pot smoking — and launch a new group to officially prepare the city for the outright legalization of marijuana in New York.
De Blasio, who has long opposed making recreational pot legal, now says he thinks legalization is inevitable and is creating an official task force to get ready for the day when that happens.
While pot remains illegal, de Blasio will direct the NYPD to give summonses to people officers catch smoking in public instead of arresting them, his aides said Sunday.