YOUR FATHER
KEEPS WANDERING
AWAY FROM HOME.
BUT IT’S YOU WHO
FEELS LOST.
THE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
AND RELATED DEMENTIAS
FAMILY SUPPORT PROGRAM.
Caring for a family member who has trouble with thinking and
memory can be extremely challenging. So challenging, in fact,
that caregivers may feel overwhelmed, struggling to maintain
their own health and well-being.
NYU Langone’s Family Support Program provides convenient,
personalized, and ongoing support to people caring for someone
with Alzheimer’s or other thinking and memory disorders.
The program is provided free of charge to individuals living
within the fi ve boroughs. You will receive access to counseling;
connections to doctors and support groups; and compassionate
guidance by being paired with a caregiver who has had a similar
experience.
Join a community dedicated to providing the support and
guidance you need, for as long as you need it.
For more information or to enroll, call us at 646.754.2277
or visit nyulangone.org/memorydisordersupport.
The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Family Support Program
is supported by a grant from the New York State Department of Health.
Shattering the
grass ceiling
DA makes history with weed-conviction dismissals
COURIER LIFE, DEC.M B G 28, 2018–JAN. 3, 2019 17
RADICAL, BRO: The district attorney claims
his policy not to prosecute low-level pot
charges has led to a massive decline in
marijuana-related arrests, a drop shown
here in a chart provided by prosecutors, and
“spliffed up” by this newspaper’s staff.
Photo illustration by John Napoli
$1,500
SAVINGS
BY COLIN MIXSON
Brooklyn’s top prosecutor is clearing
records — and breaking them!
A Criminal Court judge on Dec. 19
vacated convictions for minor pot-possession
and public-smoking charges
for the fi rst time in New York State history,
after District Attorney Eric Gonzalez
endorsed clearing the records of
28 former convicts amid his ongoing
effort to decriminalize low-level weed
charges.
“My offi ce has stopped prosecuting
the vast majority of marijuana-possession
and smoking cases, because
I do not believe that pursuing those
cases makes us safer, and because I
recognize that the racial disparities
in enforcement with respect to these
offenses remained intractable,” Gonzalez
told Judge Michael Yavinksy.
Do-good lawyers with Legal Aid Society
and Brooklyn Defender Services
partnered with prosecutors to host
three events this fall , where roughly
200 people found guilty of misdemeanor
weed charges met with defense
lawyers, who fi lled out motions to retroactively
dismiss the convictions on
the individuals’ behalf, according to
Gonzalez’s spokesman Oren Yaniv.
Some of those motions have yet to
be fi led, but many of the hundreds of
applicants — such as those convicted
of blazing behind the wheel — didn’t
qualify for dismissals, while others
found out that judges already dismissed
their charges because they
were fi rst-time offenders, Yaniv said.
Gonzalez also moved to vacate more
than 1,400 open pot warrants in court
on Dec. 19, saving hundreds more from
future arrests on charges his offi ce
doesn’t plan on prosecuting, according
to his rep.
Gonzalez — who assumed the role
of Acting District Attorney in 2016 following
the death of his predecessor
Ken Thompson, and dropped the Acting
from his title after being elected
to the seat the following year — has
worked to expand the policy of not
prosecuting many marijuana-related
arrests that Thompson instituted back
in 2014.
Some advocates of weed-law reform
previously blasted the policy as too
limited to do any good for the people of
color typically cuffed for misdemeanor
pot infractions.
But prosecutors with the district
attorney’s offi ce point to statistics that
show plummeting arrest numbers —
which dropped by 98 percent this year
— as evidence of the policy’s growing
success.
One current hurdle for those who
hope to take advantage of the retroactive
amnesty program is that individuals
must apply to have their records
cleared in person, according to
Gonzalez, who said any new legislation
— such as the marijuana-reform
package that Gov. Cuomo said he may
announce as soon as next year — must
consider a blanket pardon for those already
prosecuted under current laws.
/memorydisordersupport