New York Senators File Bill To Decriminalize Possession Of All Drugs

New York senators have introduced a bill for the 2025 session to broadly decriminalize drug possession.

The legislation from Sen. Gustavo Rivera (D) and four cosponsors would both eliminate criminal and civil penalties for drug possession while also creating a task force that’d be responsible for studying and making recommendations about additional reforms.

A justification memo attached to the measure emphasizes that substance misuse is widely considered a health condition, yet “New York and other states in the USA have treated it as a moral failing and a crime.”

“This approach has led to the stigmatization and incarceration of millions with this disease, contrasting sharply with the compassionate treatment afforded to individuals with other illnesses like cancer or anxiety disorders,” it says. “While those with these conditions are generally viewed as deserving of support and medical care, individuals with substance use disorders are often disparaged, criminalized, and deemed unworthy of assistance and compassion.”

“For far too long, New York and the rest of the U.S. have centered their responses to drug use around enforcement, maintaining this approach long after it became evident that such costly policies failed to achieve their intended goals of preventing illicit drug use. The proposed legislation seeks to shift the focus from criminalization and stigma to a science- and compassion-based approach by reducing criminal and civil penalties associated with personal possession of controlled substances.”

“By reframing individuals with SUD as patients in need of care, akin to those with any other health issue, this legislation aims to decrease deaths, reduce incarceration rates, curb the spread of blood-borne diseases, and save millions of dollars currently spent on incarcerating individuals for having a medical condition,” the memo concludes.

The bill itself includes a legislative findings section stating that criminalizing people over drugs “causes significant harm to individuals who use drugs by disrupting and further destabilizing their lives.”

“The purpose of this legislation is to save lives and to help transform New York’s approach to drug use from one based on criminalization and stigma to one based on science and compassion, by eliminating criminal and civil penalties for the personal possession of controlled substances,” it says.

The legislation would make a series of amendments to state statute to achieve that goal, including by replacing the word “criminal” with “unlawful” with respect to possession offenses.

A person who commits a simple possession violation would no longer face a misdemeanor conviction; instead, they could either pay a $50 fine or participate in a “needs screening to identify health and other service needs, including but not limited to services that may address any problematic substance use and mental health conditions, lack of employment, housing, or food, and any need for civil legal services.”

The measure stipulates that screenings “should prioritize the individual’s self-identified needs for referral to appropriate services.” The legislation also gives 45 days to complete the screening in order to have the the fine waived.

“Failure to pay such fine shall not be the basis for further penalties or for a term of incarceration,” it clarifies.

Additionally, the bill calls for the establishment of a “drug decriminalization task force” that would be responsible for developing “recommendations for reforming state laws, regulations and practices so that they align with the stated goal of treating substance use disorder as a disease, rather than a criminal behavior.”

Members of the task force would need to study amounts of drugs that should constitute personal possession, barriers to accessing services for people with substance use disorders, recommendations for additional policy reform and promoting treatment, harm reduction programs and more.

Key officials including the state health commissioner would be part of the panel, in addition to others appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. They would need to produce a report with initial findings within one year of the bill’s effective date.

The legislation is nearly identical to an earlier drug decriminalization bill that Rivera filed in 2023. That proposal did not advance to enactment, however.

— Marijuana Moment is tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments. Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access. —

Meanwhile, several psychedelics bills have been filed in New York for the 2025 session—including one calling for the legalization of certain entheogenic substances such as psilocybin and ibogaine for adults 21 and older.

Sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D), along with eight cosponsors, the legislation would amend state statute to make legal the “possession, use, cultivation, production, creation, analysis, gifting, exchange, or sharing by or between natural persons of twenty-one years of age or older of a natural plant or fungus-based hallucinogen.”

Rosenthal’s new bill was introduced just days after another New York lawmaker, Sen. Nathalia Fernandez (D), prefiled a measure that would legalize psilocybin therapy for patients with qualifying conditions.

New York officials also recently announced that the state’s legal marijuana market has now surpassed the $1 billion sales mark. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) called the milestone “a testament to the hard work of those who helped build the strongest cannabis industry in the nation: one that prioritizes equity, ensures public safety, and empowers communities.”

The figure reflects total sales since the cannabis market’s launch more than two years ago, in late 2022.

After a slow rollout in marked by lawsuits and other delays, legal marijuana sales in New York have picked up significantly in the past several months. Regulators say that’s the result of more licensed businesses opening as well as what they describe as a successful crackdown on unlicensed shops.

Separately, in November, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes (D) called for the state to extend financial aid to retail operators operators struggling under high-cost loans from a social equity fund created as a core part of the legalization program.

Later in the month, Hochul signed two new cannabis-related bills into law—one to revive the Cannabis Growers Showcase program, where producers sell products directly to consumers at farmers market-style events, and another clarifying that cannabis is categorized as an agricultural crop in the state.

The governor argued in June, meanwhile, that there’s a direct correlation between stepped-up enforcement and “dramatically” increased legal sales. A report by state officials earlier this year found both “growing pains” and “successful efforts” in New York’s marijuana market launch.

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