Prosecutors in NYC’s Brooklyn won’t pursue low-level pot cases

Prosecutors in New York City’s most populous borough of Brooklyn will no longer prosecute low-level marijuana possession cases, particularly for first-time offenders, the office said on Tuesday. Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson, who campaigned on limiting criminal penalties for people caught with small amounts of pot, said the new policy will lift the burden placed on the criminal justice system by thousands of low-level arrests that are ultimately dismissed. The move, which does not affect New York’s four other boroughs, comes at a time when states and cities across the United States are adopting more lenient stances on marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. Fifteen U.S. states have made possessing marijuana a civil offense, and 23 including New York allow medicinal pot.