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Brian Lehrer: It's to Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning everyone. On today's show, we'll talk about a Supreme court ruling last week eight to one, not the usual split. That said Congress may deny social security disability benefits to US citizens in Puerto Rico because they don't have to pay certain federal taxes. Puerto Rico also has US citizens who cannot vote in presidential elections remember. We'll talk about that mix of less taxation and less representation and what a better way might be.

On Friday's show, we talked to a leader of the group Extinction Rebellion. Did you hear that one Extinction Rebellion? Which does nonviolent civil disobedience for more action on climate change. Today, we'll talk to musician and activist and Religion News Service columnist, Andre Henry, about becoming an advocate for what he describes as Martin Luther King's style, nonviolent civil disobedience to bring about more racial progress.

Interesting connection to Friday's show and the author, AJ Jacobs today on our relationships with puzzles. You know him, some of you do as an NPR contributor. AJ Jacobs also has besides his new book on this. Some of his own puzzles for you to puzzle through on the air. If you want to play around the end of the show, but we'll start here. We are coming off the first weekend of legal cannabis sales in New Jersey, 13 dispensaries opened their doors on Thursday, as you probably heard by now.

Numerous other shops are to get approval from local municipalities and are expected to open later in the year. New Jersey becomes legal state number 18 if I'm counting correctly, for legalized recreational cannabis in this country. Since this is new to our area, we thought we would open up the phones this morning after the first weekend up, and running to take on experiencing this for the first time. Also, talk about the road ahead and some of the issues that a new legal state has to confront with WNYC and Gothamist health reporter, Caroline Lewis, who reported on day one, maybe you read or heard her piece. Caroline, welcome back to the show.

Caroline Lewis: Hi, happy to be back.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, since it's a novelty around here for the moment we do want to hear what it was like shopping for, or working in a dispensary that sells legal cannabis for recreational adult use? 212-433-WNYC. Many of our listeners, the vast majority of our listeners have never done this before, never heard it describe before 212-433-9692, 212-433-WNYC or tweet @BrianLehrer. Are you someone who has been a marijuana user for some time, but always had to find black market sources to buy it and felt like you had to sneak around to not get arrested with it?

What was it like for you to basically walk into a store and buy some like any other product and walk out with it like any other product? 212-433-WNYC. Maybe you're someone who has never used illegal cannabis, but now that it's legal decided to shop for it on the first weekend and see what all the fuss is about. What was that like? If you're somebody like that, 212-433-9692. If you work in one of the dispensaries, what was that like for the first weekend of sales to be a bud tenderer, as they're called in New Jersey? 212-433-9692.

There are remaining regulatory and legal and social justice issues here. We'll talk about those two. The first dispensaries to open were the ones already in business, as I understand it for medical marijuana. That doesn't keep as of yet the promise to help direct franchises and other benefits to communities historically most disadvantaged by the war on drugs. Call us with your story of getting into, or trying to get into the business from that standpoint. 212-433-WNYC. Caroline as people's calls are coming in what can you tell us first about customer turnout?

How many sales were made this weekend? If those numbers are out there or just impressionistic, what kinds of lines or not lines have there been?

Caroline Lewis: I don't have the sales numbers yet, but there were long lines of people waiting. I think that was expected on opening day because people were so excited. There were people lining up two hours early at a store that opened at 6:00 AM or 9:00 AM. It was definitely a lot of enthusiasm on opening day, but then reports showed that through the weekend lines were still pretty long.

I feel like this might be something that people have to contend with, at least initially while there are only these 13 dispensaries. I know that these existing companies that are licensed are looking to open other shops, pending local approvals. I know the state is working hard to get more retail licenses out there but for a while, it might be a lot of demand for a limited product.

Brian Lehrer: Who's buying as far as you can tell? I had read that in earlier legal states, it's been older people by and large and in more affluent people by and large, relatively speaking. Because the prices are higher than on the street. Younger people, poorer people maybe in California, I definitely heard this had been going on at least at the beginning. I don't know about now years into it. How much does it seem the case in New Jersey so far? Older, more comfortable economically people were going to the dispensaries this weekend, maybe younger and poor people if they were buying weed this weekend were still buying it on the street?

Caroline Lewis: I think anecdotally there is some evidence of that. My colleague Connie was in New Jersey on opening day, and I know she talked to someone who was in his 50s and said, "I actually don't smoke that much anymore, but my 19-year-old self would never forgive me if I didn't come out on this historic occasion." I think that there is some of people trying to rediscover it or older people who wouldn't, feel comfortable calling a dealer. Feeling comfortable now to go explore in a store and ask the "budtender," "What should I smoke? I haven't smoked and so long. I don't know what all these products are or what should I try?"

There is some of that and the prices are high. I would say they're comparable to some of the street prices, depending on where you're getting from or what the quality is, that kind of thing. There is some tax, but it's definitely not super affordable. There are some prices that were a little jarring. I saw one place charging $125 for a vape cartridge, things like that. It's definitely not cheap.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. Here's one of those older people who maybe been waiting many years for this day. Bob in Hamburg, you're on WNYC. Hi Bob. Thanks for calling in.

Bob: Good morning, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Did you go shopping for legal cannabis this weekend?

Bob: It's started before it became legal, that stores had it for sale behind the counter if you knew where to go. Then I did go through and by some legally the other day.

Brian Lehrer: Did it feel different in any way?

Bob: Yes, it's a lot easier because I've bought it in the parking lot. I've bought it behind the building in the alley since 1975 and it's just a weight off my shoulder to say, "Oh, I don't have to worry about running out. It's right there." In my area, there's chains of stores opening up already. Somebody called Big Smoke up the road has three different locations already and it's a pleasure.

Brian Lehrer: Bob, thank you for starting us off. Hank in Washington Township. You're on WNYC. Hi Hank.

Hank: Hey Brian. I just wanted to say yes, that you don't have to go to these places with the lines. I went to a smoke shop. I just went to look, I didn't buy but no line, but I went in, they had a gift menu, you could buy the container, and then you would be gifted flowers from the gift menu. There was no line. It was in one of New Jersey's [unintelligible 00:09:14] urban areas, but zero line lovely attendant behind the counter.

Brian Lehrer: No wait, that sounds like one of the gray market places if I understand you were just driving.

Hank: Gray market, but no line.

Brian Lehrer: No line. That's what you did, Hank. Thank you very much. Caroline, you're laughing. Do you want to explain playing this? I bought a container and then they gifted me the actual marijuana?

Caroline Lewis: Yes. I did visit a bunch of stores like that in New York recently, which have also popped up here. Basically, since there was a lot of time between when cannabis was legalized in New York and New Jersey and when legal sales actually started, there are people who start to pop saying like, "Well, it's technically legal. They're not going to crack down as hard. Let's just start selling it at the store." It's a little more out in the open than buying in someone's car or having them come to your apartment.

In some cases, they use the gifting model where they'll say like, "I'm not actually selling you cannabis, I'm selling you--" At some of the stores I went to, they're like, "I'm selling you digital content, like a video, let's say, or a mixtape. It just happens to be $60, and it comes with a gift of an eighth of weed of your choice."

Brian Lehrer: Because New York at least is in that gray area right now where the dispensaries haven't opened, but it's legal to possess. You can't sell it, but if you have some, you could give it to somebody. They're using this what's called gray market system where you buy a thing like a container. Then they give you free cannabis inside the container like the caller was describing.

Caroline Lewis: The state in New York at least has said there is no gray market, that's not legal and watch out, but there hasn't really been a law enforcement crackdown, at least in New York City. It sounds like in New Jersey, there's around as well.

Brian Lehrer: Here is somebody else who went into a dispensary, Ella in Montclair, you're on WNYC. Hi, Ella.

Ella: Hi, good morning. I'm so happy to be on. Yes, I purchased on Friday from the dispensary in Maplewood, and it was an incredible experience. I found that it was a very mixed crowd, young, old, Black, white, everybody just in a really good mood. When I left the store, they had police officers at the crossing and stuff. I'm walking across the street with a couple of African American compadres. We said hello to the police officer.

It was very empowering to be able to just walk by them knowing that we had legal weed on us. I talked to my compadres, and they said it was just an incredible feeling. Brian--

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead. No, you continue, you have something else to add. Go ahead.

Ella: The next thing I was going to say is just now I'm really interested in how the tax money is going to be spent on disadvantaged communities. I haven't seen a lot about that. I work in the field, Non-profit Community Development. Now, I'm really interested in seeing how that money can hit the streets, and hopefully, responsibly used.

Brian Lehrer: Great. We'll talk to Caroline about that. Right now, let me ask you one follow-up question first, just on the experience. What was the range of products that you saw? I read that there are a lot of different strains available. Which is something that I guess if people were buying it on the black market, all these years, wouldn't really have a choice, a display. You go to the produce market, and you have this kind of this and that kind of that just sitting out there.

I guess now people have that for marijuana. What was the range? As somebody who's bought it illegally before I take it, how did you figure out what to buy?

Ella: [chuckles] Yes. I was a little bit unsure of what to do, and the budtenders walk you through the experience. "This one will make you tired and this one will give you energy and make you laugh." They had about five different strains of the flower. They had some vape cartridges, I think maybe three or four different kinds. They had some edibles, but not much in the way. I just focused on either the flower or the vape cartridges.

Brian Lehrer: Ella, thank you very much. Caroline, let's go to Ella's serious question there about the tax receipts and how they're going to be used for communities that have been the most impacted by the drug war. Also, helping people from those communities get into the business at whatever level, owning dispensaries, growers, whatever. What's the state of that?

Caroline Lewis: The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission has been having some public meetings where they're trying to get feedback on how people want the money to be used. For instance, last month, people were saying that they want some of the money to go to so-called impact zones. Which are areas that have been impacted by the war on drugs and are economically disadvantaged. Other people are saying they want grants or low interest or no-interest loans for equity applicants.

That's something we have in New York, where the state created a $200 million pot of money to create seed funding for social equity applicants to help them get their businesses off the ground, so there's all these suggestions. My understanding is the CRC, the State Advisory Board will bring those recommendations to the Legislature, and they will figure out how the money is going to be allocated before the budget comes out in July.

Brian Lehrer: It wasn't in the original legalization law, that the tax coffers, that are filled by this, to the extent that they would be designated for certain purposes?

Caroline Lewis: I'm actually not sure exactly how much was outlined in the law, but I know that there is this public input process taking place now.

Brian Lehrer: All right. Let's hear another person's experience. Let's see. I think we have Joe and Wallington, you're on WNYC. Hi, Joe. Thanks for calling in.

Joe: Thank you, good morning. I've been smoking for many years and I have two suggestions. I'd like to see, if I'm not mistaken, I believe the tax is too low. I'd be willing to pay more tax. Some of that money, it wouldn't be needed that much money. We should have a flag in every police station, every hospital, every state courthouse, every gymnasium, and every stadium an anti-litter campaign. I hear all the pundits talking about climate change. No one ever talks about the litter. It's rife.

I think some of that money could be used to make a new flag, a beautiful flag, and fly it high and proud. Also, when I was young, back in the '60s, I used to dream of this day. I used to dream that we'd sing this song. I'm going to sing it now. Maybe you guys can recognize it. You know that song they play? [sings]

Brian Lehrer: [crosstalk] the baseball stadiums, yes?

Joe: Yes. That's a celebration song. Thank you for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: Joe, thank you very much for making it. All right. Marilyn in Freehold, you're on WNYC. Hi, Marilyn.

Marilyn: Hi. The reason I'm calling, I'm disappointed with the whole corporate marketing of the marijuana. I don't feel the pot is as good as we got in the '60s from Mexico.

Brian: Oh, so you went shopping this weekend in one of the dispensaries, and you didn't like the weed?

Marilyn: Yes. A lot of it is chemicalized. It's not the happy weed that you used to get. I don't know if it's being grown organically. It seems very chemically oriented.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. Marilyn, thank you for your call. Caroline, I thought part of the purpose is supposed to be, at least in theory, just the opposite of that. That you don't know what you get when you're buying on the street. How much oregano is in the bag? It's been polluted with growing chemicals because who's going to regulate it? Whereas this is much more regulated, it's tested, I believe, in some ways for potency and whatever before it can go into the dispensary, talk about that.

Caroline Lewis: Yes. Certainly, there is testing and that's the big difference between cannabis that's sold legally and cannabis that's not sold at these dispensaries is that it's grown in-state because the Federal law prohibits it from crossing state lines and then tested. I think there is a difference between weed sold now and back in the day. There's a lot of strains that have been engineered. Most people think it's a lot more potent now, which is something that some people might like and other people might not like as much.

My understanding is that back in the day, you could just puff on a joint for a while, and it wouldn't get you that high. I think some people who might not be used to that, might not like it as much. I don't know.

Brian Lehrer: I guess, the earlier caller was talking about how there are different strains and the budtender was telling people, "Oh, this one is more of an energetic high, this one is more of a drowsy high, that kind of thing."

Caroline Lewis: Yes. I think that's something that's the same with going to a dealer often, there is usually a choice. I don't know if they're as knowledgeable or they-- sometimes they are, sometimes they're not. In general, there's variety of cannabis these days whether you're getting the strains from grown in-state or illegally crossing state lines, there's so much weed out there, and it's generally not oregano these days. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: Right. A listener on Twitter asks, "Do the New Jersey cannabis dispensaries still have the all-cash issue? If so that's a big barrier to success." It is an all-cash, I think debit card business no credit cards, right?

Caroline Lewis: Yes. I've seen a couple of electronic pay options and things like that but no credit cards because federal prohibition prevents cannabis businesses from doing regular banking and so definitely hit up an ATM before going out to these dispensaries just in case.

Brian Lehrer: Is robbery an issue? I don't know if you've reported on this, you're a health reporter but is robbery an issue at other legal states with all that cash sitting around?

Caroline Lewis: Yes. There are armed robberies. I heard there was a spike in robberies recently in different places across the country, and that is part of what's been driving the push for this SAFE Banking Act in Congress, which wouldn't decriminalize cannabis completely but would address some of the banking issues, but that bill and certain others that are trying to address federal issues, keep passing the house and not the senate, and so there's been a hold-up on that reform.

Brian Lehrer: We'll take a break and continue on the first weekend of legal recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey. Bruce in New Brunswick, we see you. It looks like Bruce is converting from being an illegal seller to a illegal seller. We'll get his experience and others and talk about some of the additional issues including driving laws and how to keep this safe. We see you-- Who is it? Tom in Brooklyn who's saying recreational is a weird term important not to glorify it. Obviously, there are risks and dangers. We'll keep talking about those with Caroline Lewis, health reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, and more of your calls, stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC as we talk about some of the experiences as well as some of the issues pertaining to the first weekend of legal recreational marijuana sales, as they call it in the state of New Jersey. Bruce in New Brunswick, you're on WNYC. Hi, Bruce.

Bruce: How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. How are you?

Bruce: Good morning.

Brian Lehrer: Tell us your story. [crosstalk] Yes, go ahead.

Bruce: Well, I'm actually a CEO of ECS Health Systems, we're in the process of doing a full CBD dispensary going out through the cannabis licenses. On the marijuana side, I used to be an athlete, so I never smoked marijuana until I had an issue where they thought I had cancer. I started with the morphine, that didn't work, the marijuana started working and started helping so that's when I got into the business of the science of it. I just jumped in, today with the dispensaries in Jersey.

On the street side, I've done it on that end. I've heard conversations where you don't know what you're getting on the street. Most people they don't know what they're getting on the street if they're just buying from random people. Typically, if you're a marijuana smoker and you smoke if you're getting it from a dealer, your dealer's typically getting it from California, or other places where they're actually getting dispensary quality bud.

Even a few days ago yesterday when everything happened in Jersey, me and myself or other people I know who do deals, they weren't lining up trying to go to the dispensaries. Everybody's laughing because all the products that we have, we have more than the dispensaries for cheaper prices. Does that make sense?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, that makes sense. Now did you say you're getting into a legal side of the business too but CBD not the--

Bruce: Yes. We're going to get everything. I remember having cannabis, they both help you and they both heal you so we're going to do a full dispensary. We're going to have the CBD to Delta 8, and the THC or Delta 9 marijuana. We're in it for the health, the wellness, and if people want to do recreation, we're big on the educational side too. We educate people about using it.

We educate people on how they buy it and we educate people on how it's grown. I know someone made a comment about buying bud in the dispensary and she felt it was chemicalized, that's not true. Most dispensaries it's grown organically, and so it has been tested. The bud that they're getting is higher quality. You have more of a chance of getting altered marijuana when you buy it on the street. When I say altered if you're getting it where someone's basically taking hemp or CBD and spraying it with THC and different terpenes for different flavors.

They sell it that way, or you have people who don't know what they're doing and they basically laced it with other illicit drugs. Simply 9 times out of 10, if you're not getting it in a dispensary if you're getting it from a reputable dealer, the quality of the bug that you're getting is good, and the other ancillary products that aren't even allowed to be sold in the dispensary.

I know someone made a comment they saw vape cartridges for $120. That's excessive. I sell a vape card if I wanted to be nice for $50. I get them for $9 $6.

Brian Lehrer: Good to know what the markup is. Bruce, do you have a license from the state to open THC?

Bruce: We're going on the process of getting the license right now. We've gone through that process. I'm actually in the process of meeting with [inaudible 00:25:58]. Now I just jumped out of a meeting because I was so excited to hear you guys on the radio.

Brian Lehrer: Bruce, thank you. Thank you for your experiences, thank you for your story, and good luck with your business. Related question, I guess from a listener on Twitter is, is the weed and these dispensaries regulated by the FDA or tested to not be laced the way street weed might be? Caroline, what can you tell us about the testing protocols?

Caroline Lewis: Yes. It's not regulated by the FDA which is a federal body but the whole idea of legalization in a state is to ensure that they track the entire growing and manufacturing process. There are protocols for it and then the product has to be tested before it's sold so that you can make sure that it's safe but also that if it says it has a certain amount of THC, that that's more accurate than what you might find if you're buying from a dealer. You might buy edibles that say, a certain amount of THC on the bag, but you don't really know how accurate that is.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. The caller earlier who talked about the experience of going into the dispensary in Maplewood and walking right by a police officer and that felt good. Was it in your article where there was a description of a police officer being present outside the dispensary in Maplewood on day one? I imagine that could have been off-putting to people who thought this was all about decoupling cannabis from law enforcement.

Brian Lehrer: I'm not sure. I don't know if it was in my article, but I know that there were officers around some of these dispensaries and I think the idea is that-- I don't know how people felt about it, but I have heard from a lot of people even in New York where we don't have legal dispensaries yet, just the idea that you could like smoke a joint in front of a cop and they can't do anything is liberating for a lot of people.

Brian Lehrer: Right. I guess so. Chuck in Bay Ridge, you're on WNYC. Hi, Chuck. I should say hi Bay Ridge. Bay Ridge, now, what part of New Jersey is that in?

Chuck: Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, but on Thursday morning I hopped on New Jersey Transit after Maplewood which is a very nice town by the way. I went to the dispensary and like your previous caller, I too feel like singing because it was such a joyous occasion.

Brian Lehrer: Just probably a silly question, and it's a non-issue at this point, but were you at all nervous about bringing it back across state lines, which is still illegal?

Chuck: [chuckles] Actually, Brian, for the past couple of years, I've been driving up to Massachusetts about once a month going to dispensaries there, giving my tax dollars to Massachusetts, and no.

Brian Lehrer: What would you say about the because it's come up from a couple of callers in a couple of different ways, what would you say about the range of products that you saw for sale?

Chuck: Well, I only buy flower but they had five different varieties and they had a really nice sativa, which is my favorite one that I can smoke and function throughout the day. It's just an amazing thing. It's really just a landmark day in my life that I can just have access to real high-quality weed where I know what I'm getting.

Brian Lehrer: Chuck, thank you very much. I read, Caroline that there so far are no edibles for sale, and edibles have gotten so much of the press from earlier legal states. What is the range of product, initially? What's the limitation there?

Caroline Lewis: There are products that you can eat, but they're generally lozenges or capsules, that kind of thing, more clinical looking products because there is this concern about children getting into cannabis products that look like popular snacks, and so New Jersey they've officiated to that and said like, "Okay, we're not going to sell cookies and brownies and things like that. In addition to things like lozenges or capsules, then there's also the typical flower and vape pens and that sort of thing.

Brian Lehrer: What about the risk of crossing state lines? I was looking it up and I saw articles that weren't from so recently, but from a few years ago, not pertaining to New York per se, but saying do not cross state lines. Obviously, don't try to get on an airplane from a legal state to a non-legal state, and don't risk driving across state lines because there is a risk. Since it may be legal to own in New Jersey and legal to own in New York, but because of the federal law, it's not legal to cross state lines with it. Is there any way to assess that risk?

Caroline Lewis: Maybe I'm less risk-averse than some, but it doesn't seem like there's going to be massive enforcement. I'm not sure whether there will be some kind of enforcement, but I think because cannabis is legal in New York and legal in New Jersey. I don't think it's as much of a priority for police to crack down on people with a small amount of cannabis. Even when you're going to the airport, if you think about it, the TSA can't arrest someone for having cannabis, they would have to get the police to come over and arrest you.

If you're in New York, are the police going to prioritize coming over and arresting for a couple grams of weed, or if you're in California? If you're going between legal states, I still don't really think it's going to be that much of a priority.

Brian Lehrer: I think Ahmed in Nassau County is calling about something like that. Ahmed, you're on WNYC. Hi there?

Ahmed: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Brian. Good morning. My comment is because I know people, they live in California and they're doing this illegal trafficking from California to New York. The sellers out here, get the stuff and give it to the street people. "This is what I want. I want $10,000 for this one, whatever you make there that's you." My advice is now, what if you get caught with it coming from out of state? They're the one making the one like California or Colorado because it's legal over there while out here it's illegal?

Brian Lehrer: Right. Now that it's legal in New Jersey, it's not like you have to get on an airplane or cross country Amtrak or be driving in a lot of states where the cops may all be too happy. Be all too happy to stop you for some driving infraction and then look in your car to the extent that the law allows in those states, I guess. Actually, along these lines, I'm remembering now Caroline, Andrew Cuomo when he was governor and was advocating legalization in New York before that law passed the state legislature.

He was talking openly about, "Hey, you know what people are doing now? They're going to Massachusetts and they're coming back across the state line. We want that business for ourselves." He was talking about that inter-state travel as if it was just routine.

Caroline Lewis: Well, I think there's just a lot of contradictions in how the law works right now. In New York, it is legal to have cannabis, but not legal to sell it. What is this immaculate cannabis conception? I think that there's a lot of those kinds of contradictions all already baked into the current situation and so until it's federally legal. It's really going to be up to certain specific law enforcement agencies whether they want to prioritize cracking down on that kind of thing. I just don't see why it would be a priority in New York, for instance, or in New Jersey where it is legal within that state.

Brian Lehrer: What about driving laws? Obviously, a lot of people already use marijuana and there's already laws against driving while intoxicated on that as well as on alcohol. Does anything about that change with legal marijuana sales in New Jersey? If it's legal to possess, it's still obviously not legal to drive high. We shouldn't even have to say it. It's so obvious that it's dangerous to do that, and people should never do that. Does the law enforcement aspect of that change? Did they have to develop some kind of new testing, whatever it is, even if it's a visual test or whatever it is, protocol for a legal environment?

Caroline Lewis: I have to look into that more, how they're going to try to determine if people are driving high. I know like you said, it's illegal, and often when people are talking about the dispensaries opening, they're reminding people to wait till you get home to smoke it, especially in New Jersey where it's so common to drive. I'm not 100% sure how they're testing for that.

Brian Lehrer: How will this redefine the history of people who are arrested or deported for that matter or fined for the possession of marijuana? Is there a legal process that people are now going through or can go through to have their records erased or anything like that?

Caroline Lewis: Yes. I know in New York there's automatic expungement of past cannabis convictions. I think there's a similar process in New Jersey where convictions are being expunged. I think like the idea certainly in both of these states is to do some atoning for-- they are taking into account the history, certainly in who they're prioritizing for licenses in both states. In New Jersey, they decided to give these medical companies an edge by letting them open first, just to get things going. When it comes to new licenses in the recreational industry, they are looking to prioritize equity candidates or diverse candidates people from areas that were impacted by the war on drugs, people with cannabis, past cannabis convictions, and that sort of thing.

Brian Lehrer: Can people still get arrested for possessing or selling black market cannabis? Is that still happening?

Caroline Lewis: I need to look more into what's happening in New Jersey, but I know in New York there's very few arrests happening at least in New York City. There's just a small, small handful of arrests that are happening. I would assume they're for bigger amounts possibly, or maybe linked with other charges as well. I know that people in New York, I know in people in Washington Square Park are selling out in open, but they say sometimes cops will come by and intimidate them, tell them to put everything away. I think there's still summons happening and things like that. The penalties have been reduced, so there's less enforcement for sure.

Brian Lehrer: All right. First weekend of legal, recreational marijuana sales in our area now over novelty, probably not yet worn off for a lot of people, but it will based on the experience of California and Colorado and other states. Now into the future in our area, in this new world with respect to health and safety issues, with respect to social justice issues, and everything else. Caroline Lewis, Health reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. Caroline, thanks a lot.

Caroline Lewis: Good talking to you, Brian. Thanks.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer WNYC, stay with--

 

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