The New York City Police Department has announced that officers will issue tickets for most cases of public marijuana-smoking rather than make arrests, but the city’s district attorneys remain divided on how their offices plan to approach the cases.

Starting on Sept. 1 under the directive, officers will issue criminal summonses instead of arresting offenders. Arrests are not to be made unless the offenders are on probation or parole, have outstanding warrants, have a history of violence or if their smoking poses a public safety risk, such as smoking marijuana behind the wheel of an automobile.

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