The Queens Chronicle reported this month on the local changes resulting from the legalization of marijuana in NY:
Weed is legal in New York and the NYPD is adjusting.
A memo to officers says people 21 and older can legally smoke weed “almost anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed including on sidewalks, on front stoops and other public places.”
People are allowed to have up to three ounces of cannabis under the law.
When it comes to cars, the smell of “burnt and unburnt” weed “alone no longer establishes probable cause of a crime to search a vehicle,” according to the memo, which was posted online by the New York Post.
If a driver admits to smoking recently, officers can search the vehicle’s passenger compartment, but “the trunk may not be searched unless the officer develops separate probable cause to believe the trunk contains evidence of a crime (e.g., gun recovered from under driver seat).”