A coalition of 60 drug policy reform, civil rights and community organizations is calling on New York policymakers to block an attempt to make the odor of marijuana a pretext for police to force motorists to take drug tests—and it’s also pushing for policies that prioritize harm reduction, including expanded access to safe consumption sites for illegal substances.
In a letter sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D) and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) last week, the groups said that, from the state to federal level, “we are seeing a lack of investments and implementation in health programs to save lives, and shift toward increased criminalization.”
“New York cannot follow this trajectory,” the letter says. “The State must reject proposals that will repeat some of the worst harms of the War on Drugs and contribute to more preventable overdose deaths.”
One of the coalition’s specific recommendations is for legislative leaders to reject a proposal included in Hochul’s budget request that would make it so law enforcement could again use the smell of cannabis as a pretext to “restart unconstitutional racial profiling of drivers.”
The governor’s plan has drawn criticism not just from reform advocates but also from the state’s Assembly majority leader and the governor-appointed head of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM).
The proposed change is part of Hochul’s budget legislation for transportation, economic development and environmental conservation. It adds “the odor of cannabis, burnt cannabis or other drug” to a list of nonexclusive circumstances that constitute “reasonable cause” that a driver has broken the law.
Such cause would allow an officer to arrest an individual, subject them to drug testing and potentially search the vehicle itself.
Signatories on the new letter include the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), Catholic Charities Care Coordination Services, Legal Action Center, Legal Aid Society, VOCAL-NY and New York Doctors Coalition.
Housing Works, the first adult-use marijuana retail licensee to open in New York, as well as OnPoint NYC, which operates city-sanctioned safe consumption sites in New York City, are also signatories.
The coalition’s letter also criticizes proposals to “significantly expand the state’s schedule of controlled substances, including fentanyl-related substances” and to “enhance criminal charges related to driving by expanding the definition of ‘drug’ to mean any substance or combination of substances—cough syrup, allergy medication, prescribed medications, and even caffeine or energy drinks.”
Such policies, if enacted, “are certain to increase criminalization, incentivize a more potent and unpredictable drug supply, exacerbate overdose deaths and public suffering, and impose barriers to care disproportionately for Black and brown communities that bear the brunt of the overdose crisis,” it says.
Instead, the coalition’s letter urges the governor and lawmakers to support harm reduction steps such as expanding drug checking services and authorizing overdose prevention centers (OPCs) to operate.
“Empirical research and examples from other states have demonstrated that it is not only possible to implement OPC programs, it is imperative for public health,” the letter says.
“OPCs are wellness hubs that not only prevent overdose deaths, but also connect people to wraparound services such as healthcare and housing, clean up syringes and other drug litter to keep their neighborhoods safe, and provide spaces of healing and community. OPCs must be accessible and promoted statewide in lieu of criminalization, and as diligently as any crucial public health program.”
“As New Yorkers who continue to mourn and bury our loved ones at astounding rates, there is an opportunity for the state to improve countless lives by implementing public health solutions,” the letter concludes. “We urge you to take the above steps to address the overdose crisis–the state cannot repeat the harms of the past.”
Meanwhile in New York, senators recently approved a bill to expand housing protections for registered medical marijuana patients, aiming to prevent evictions based solely on their lawful use of cannabis.
Pennsylvania Lawmaker Files Bill To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients From DUI Charges
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