By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
UPPER EAST SIDE — Marijuana activists came to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's townhouse Wednesday to proclaim New York as the "marijuana arrest capital of the world."
More than 50 activists gathered near the mayor's home on E. 79th Street decried the 50,000 city arrests made last year for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
They claimed 86 percent of those arrested were black and Latinos and many of the busts were the result of illegal searches.
"What hypocrisy," said Tony Newman, of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Mayor Bloomberg smoked it. He liked it."
Police standing guard in front of Bloomberg's home at 17 E. 79th St., shooed away the protesters more than half a block away to Fifth Avenue, just south of 79th Street.
Bloomberg told reporters in the 2001 mayoral race that he'd sampled reefer and enjoyed it. But marijuana arrests have skyrocketed on his watch.
More people have been arrested for marijuana possession under his terms than under the Koch, Dinkins and Giuliani administrations combined, the protesters claimed.
Most of the arrests take place in poor neighborhoods, not the tony blocks of the Upper East Side.
"There are practically no arrests where the mayor lives," said Bobby Tolbert, a board member of the group VOCAL-NY. "But one district away is another story."
He presented a chart showing there were 34 marijuana arrests in the Upper East Side's 19th precinct in 2010. East Harlem's 25th precinct saw 1,069 marijuana arrests.
"We want the mayor to redirect the $75 million spend on arresting these kids to be spent on other things," like food pantries, housing assistance and youth programs, said Tolbert, of the Bronx.
East Harlem's City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito said she and her colleagues were supporting efforts on the state level to decriminalize the public display of small amounts of marijuana.
Advocates claim that police are making bogus arrests after finding marijuana on suspects after stopping and frisking them. Retired police officers recently told WNYC about such tactics.
"With the mayor's executive budget proposing the smallest police force in years, it is time to make more effective use of the NYPD's limited resources," Viverito said. "Bringing youth into the criminal justice system unnecessarily will, at the end of the day, only cost all of us more socially and economically."
The Bloomberg administration did not respond.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said at a recent press conference that cops are simply enforcing laws against smoking marijuana.
"Officers encounter those situations on the street, they take action," he continued. "If anyone thinks that's inappropriate, they should petition the state legislature to change the law."
