N.Y. Penal Law 222.05 – Personal use of cannabis
§ 222.05 Personal use of cannabis.
Terms Used In N.Y. Penal Law 222.05
- Arrest: Taking physical custody of a person by lawful authority.
- Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Probable cause: A reasonable ground for belief that the offender violated a specific law.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary:
1. The following acts are lawful for persons twenty-one years of age or older: (a) possessing, displaying, purchasing, obtaining, or transporting up to three ounces of cannabis and up to twenty-four grams of concentrated cannabis;
(b) transferring, without compensation, to a person twenty-one years of age or older, up to three ounces of cannabis and up to twenty-four grams of concentrated cannabis;
(c) using, smoking, ingesting, or consuming cannabis or concentrated cannabis unless otherwise prohibited by state law;
(d) possessing, using, displaying, purchasing, obtaining, manufacturing, transporting or giving to any person twenty-one years of age or older cannabis paraphernalia or concentrated cannabis paraphernalia;
(e) planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, processing or possessing cultivated cannabis in accordance with section 222.15 of this article; and
(f) assisting another person who is twenty-one years of age or older, or allowing property to be used, in any of the acts described in paragraphs (a) through (e) of this subdivision.
2. Cannabis, concentrated cannabis, cannabis paraphernalia or concentrated cannabis paraphernalia involved in any way with conduct deemed lawful by this section are not contraband nor subject to seizure or forfeiture of assets under article four hundred eighty of this chapter, § 1311 of the civil practice law and rules, or other applicable law, and no conduct deemed lawful by this section shall constitute the basis for approach, search, seizure, arrest or detention.
3. Except as provided in subdivision four of this section, in any criminal proceeding including proceedings pursuant to § 710.20 of the criminal procedure law, no finding or determination of reasonable cause to believe a crime has been committed shall be based solely on evidence of the following facts and circumstances, either individually or in combination with each other:
(a) the odor of cannabis;
(b) the odor of burnt cannabis;
(c) the possession of or the suspicion of possession of cannabis or concentrated cannabis in the amounts authorized in this article;
(d) the possession of multiple containers of cannabis without evidence of concentrated cannabis in the amounts authorized in this article;
(e) the presence of cash or currency in proximity to cannabis or concentrated cannabis; or
(f) the planting, cultivating, harvesting, drying, processing or possessing cultivated cannabis in accordance with section 222.15 of this article.
4. Paragraph (b) of subdivision three of this section shall not apply when a law enforcement officer is investigating whether a person is operating a motor vehicle, vessel or snowmobile while impaired by drugs or the combined influence of drugs or of alcohol and any drug or drugs in violation of subdivision four or subdivision four-a of § 1192 of the vehicle and traffic law, or paragraph (e) of subdivision two of § 49-a of the navigation law, or paragraph (d) of subdivision one of § 25.24 of the parks, recreation and historic preservation law. During such investigations, the odor of burnt cannabis shall not provide probable cause to search any area of a vehicle that is not readily accessible to the driver and reasonably likely to contain evidence relevant to the driver's condition.