State Police: Assemblyman had pot
Almost everything about this story is completely unremarkable: a driver stopped for speeding on the Thruway just south of Albany (in Coeymans), the state trooper smells marijuana, pot is allegedly found. This happens all the time. The part that doesn't: the driver is a state Assemblyman -- Republican Stephen Katz represents the 94th district, which spans Dutchess and Putnam counties. Update: Katz has issued a statement in which he call it an "unfortunate incident" and talks about... mandate relief. [NYSP] [Gannett Albany] [State of Politics]
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This is the best part from the TU:
"Katz currently sits on the Assembly's Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee as well as its Higher Education committee; last year, he voted against a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana."
Hypocrite.
... said -R. on Mar 15, 2013 at 12:46 PM | link
Also it is rather remarkable that the state police don't know how to spell marijuana.
... said Code Monkey on Mar 15, 2013 at 1:08 PM | link
Aside from the endless opportunities for satire using Cheech and Chong quotes, an item I found interesting from this story is that the State Police and NYS Penal Code use the alternate spelling of marijuana: 'marihuana.'
From a June 15, 1997, NYT piece on the spelling:
Albany Spelling Check: Marihuana?
When the Assembly passed a bill last week that legalized the “medical use of marihuana,” copy editors across the state did a double-take. Shouldn’t that be spelled with a J?
“Marijuana” is standard usage, but “the public health law and the penal law have always spelled it with an H,” explained Assemblyman Richard N. Gottfried, the sponsor of the bill (the Senate version has not come up for a vote). “That’s the official New York state statutory spelling.”
The alternate form stretches back decades: Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia investigated the “marihuana problem in the City of New York” in 1938, and The Times referred to “marihuana” as late as the 1960s. But its origin has apparently gone up in smoke.
Even the cannabis cognoscenti were at a loss. “We haven’t really determined a point where the H went to a J,” said Steve Bloom, the former editor of High Times, an advocate for the legalization of cannabis, in magazine form as well as online.
Assemblyman Gottfried floated one possibility. “Someone just spelled it wrong,” he said, “and it stuck.”
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/albany-spelling-check-marihuana/
... said Bob on Mar 15, 2013 at 1:23 PM | link
I'm not sure anything I've come across before highlights all that is wrong about NYS government and drug policy better than this.
Why do you spell it marihuana?
NYS: We don't know
Do you realize it is incorrect?
NYS: Yes. But that is how we've always done it and thus we will continue to do it that way because changing it to not make us look like idiots would be work.
Aren't you embarassed?
NYS: Have you seen how much we get paid to spell it with an H?
If you can't beat them, hoin them!
... said Code Monkey on Mar 15, 2013 at 3:58 PM | link
Mr. Code Monkey:
:-))
... said -R. on Mar 15, 2013 at 6:11 PM | link
marihuana? that's the loophole I've been looking for.
... said Barold on Mar 16, 2013 at 6:58 PM | link
Update: Katz has issued a statement in which he call it an "unfortunate incident" and talks about... mandate relief. [NYSP] [Gannett Albany] [State of Politics]
Katz: "I am confident that once the facts are presented that this will quickly be put to rest."
He goes on to say that, "The fact is the NYS Penal Code makes no mention of marijuana."
... said Bob on Mar 17, 2013 at 2:54 PM | link