The small crowd endured the rain Monday afternoon outside City Hall as they called for legalizing marijuana in New York State.
The group says Albany should move beyond the very narrow legalization of marijuana oil for medical purposes, which hasn't started yet, and move on to legalizing all forms. At least they favor legalization in private for those over a minimum age like 18.
Activist Samuel Herbert says legalization and decriminalization would ease the effect of drug arrests on some groups.
"Too many young black, too many Hispanics and too many poor whites and too many respectable law-abiding citizens who use marijuana should not be subject to go to jail because they get busted with a ten dollar bag or a five dollar bag. That has to stop," Herbert said.
Michael Mottern says smoking pot in your own house is a constitutional right and Governor Cuomo should recognize that.
"Leave people alone. What he should understand is that according to the Constitution, it says life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That means that the government should have no part in people's lives. If you're 21, tax-paying and a consenting adult, you should be allowed to ingest whatever you want into your body," Mottern said.
With the regulations for producing marijuana oil only released recently, there is no legal marijuana in New York. That's different from states like Colorado and Washington State which have removed most restrictions and levied fairly heavy taxation.
The rally, not coincidentally, took place on 4/20, a number used as code for pot smoking among aficionados.
