Police Commissioner Bill Bratton on Sunday ripped states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use, saying pot is responsible for “the vast majority’’ of violence in the city.
“Here in New York, the violence we see associated with drugs, the vast majority of it, is around the issue of marijuana, which is ironic considering the explosion in use of heroin now in the city,” Bratton said Sunday on John Catsimatidis’s radio show.
“Interestingly enough, here in New York City most of the violence we see – violence around drug trafficking – is involving marijuana and I have to scratch my head as we are seeing many states wanting to legalize marijuana, and more liberalization of policies,” he said.
His comments came two years after Mayor de Blasio introduced an NYPD policy mandating that a person possessing less than 25 grams of marijuana get a ticket instead of being arrested, as long as they have ID and no outstanding warrants.