District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced Monday that the courts have granted her petitions to dismiss all cases involving standalone felony and misdemeanor charges of marijuana possession or sale.
“Dismissing these marijuana cases, including underlying bench warrants, has been a priority of mine, and the legislature’s repeal of Article 221 was long overdue. The decriminalization of marijuana possession is critical given the discriminatory way marijuana laws have been used to incarcerate people of color.” DA Rocah said. “While Black and white Americans used marijuana at similar rates, people of color are much more likely to be arrested than white Americans for marijuana possession. Our office is committed to reducing this disparity and the dismissal of these cases is an important step.”
Despite roughly equal usage rates, Black people are 3.73 times more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana.
A total of 184 cases have been dismissed by the Westchester District Attorney’s Office.
As set forth in the new law, the DA’s Office will no longer prosecute future violations or misdemeanors of low level marijuana possession. In local court, prosecutors will continue to identify warrants for standalone marijuana charges that would no longer be prosecutable and will calendar these cases, recall the warrants and dismiss the charges.96