Buffalo Mayor Brown Orders Police To Stop Enforcing Low-Level Marijuana Offenses

BUFFALO – Mayor Byron Brown announced Friday in a tweet and at the State of the City Address that he is “directing Commissioner Lockwood to stop enforcing low-level marijuana possession offenses.”

Lockwood is the Buffalo Police Commissioner.

In a previous report on disparities among marijuana arrests, Assemblywoman Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes said, “Historical data shows that minorities and whites use marijuana at roughly the same rate, but blacks and Latinos are almost four times more likely to be arrested for pot.”

Mayor Brown announced this as Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushes for the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in New York State.