Bloomberg Locked Up Nearly Half a Million People on Marijuana Charges

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Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg argued on the debate stage in South Carolina that people shouldn’t be arrested for marijuana possession, but as the mayor of New York City, Bloomberg aggressively prosecuted the crime, arresting more people for the offense than the three previous mayors combined.

“We should not make this a criminal thing if you have a small amount,” Bloomberg said at Tuesday’s debate. “For dealers, yes. But for the average person, no, and we should expunge the records of those who got caught up in this before.”

Bloomberg’s comment marks a remarkable change-of-heart for the billionaire mogul. During his 12-year tenure as mayor, the New York Police Department arrested roughly 106 New Yorkers each day for the lowest-level marijuana possession charge, according to data from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). In comparison, the administrations of Bloomberg’s three predecessors, Democrats Ed Koch and David Dinkins and Republican Rudy Giuliani, collectively arrested 226,000 people, or 25 people daily, for the same charge over a 24-year period between 1978 and 2001. During Bloomberg’s tenure, approximately 471,000 people were arrested on possession charges. 

The issue of marijuana has become a litmus test for the Democratic presidential contenders, who have embraced lenient drug policies to demonstrate their commitment to criminal justice reform. This is partly because many progressives believe that the criminalization of weed possession has drastically increased incarceration rates, especially among minority communities. In fact, prison data show that legalizing weed will have little to no impact on the prison population since few inmates are incarcerated for possessing marijuana. – READ MORE

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