Ivan Torres has been smoking weed in New York City for more than four decades. As arrests began to soar in the late 1990s, he said he was one of the tens of thousands of Black men charged for low-level marijuana possession, earning a criminal record that followed him for much of his adult life.
On Wednesday afternoon, hours after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill officially legalizing marijuana in New York, the 62-year-old sat on a bench in Bed-Stuy and smoked his first ever legal spliff. "I never felt like I was doing anything wrong," he told Gothamist. "Things have definitely changed for the better."
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Ivan Torres, 62, lighting up before a bike ride on Wednesday Scott Heins/Gothamist Ivan Torres has been smoking weed in New York City for more than four decades. As arrests began to soar in the late 1990s, he said he was one of the tens of thousands of Black [...]
