New York Decides to Follow Philly’s Example

Will reduce penalties for marijuana possession and use.

So New York City is going to reduce the penalties for marijuana use, Fox 29 reports:

Those found with marijuana will be issued a $100 fine for the first offense and a $250 fine for the second offense.

“This policy will allow officers in a case where they do find it appropriate to give a summons to continue on with their work and be able to put therefore more time and energy into fighting more serious crime rather than get bogged down with the time and energy necessary for an unproductive arrest,” Mayor di Blasio said in a press conference yesterday.

And we mention this, really, for one reason: Philly did it first. We didn’t wait for the Big City to try it, then adopt our our watered-down version of it. We set the trend, and New York followed. We. Did. It. First.

It seemed worth noting. Carry on.