It’s reefer madness all across Gotham, following the state Legislature’s
legalization of marijuana.
Potheads light up with abandon. The NYPD has instructed officers
to ignore the possession, “burning” and even the open sale of up to three ounces of weed.
Technically, minors aren’t permitted to have access to the herb, and you’re not allowed to smoke up anywhere cigarettes are banned. Yet judging by the dank smell on every block, park bench and subway car, any restrictions on pot have gone up in smoke.
Some New Yorkers may recall a time not too long ago when even the sale of “bongs” and other pot paraphernalia was essentially banned in the Big Apple. Now “smoke shops” are everywhere. The fruits of progress, don’t you know?
It’s common for sophisticated people to observe that prohibition never works — just look at, well, Prohibition. Banning booze was a huge failure, right? Actually, no. Whether it was ultimately a good idea or not, the passage of the Volstead Act did, in fact, drive down consumption of alcohol to about 70 percent of pre-Prohibition levels.
nypost.com
