This week we asked readers their thoughts on legislators currently considering the legalization of recreational marijuana—Would this be good or bad for New York City? Is pot a stepping-stone to harder drugs and would it decrease or increase crime?

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s very complex to even think about, because there’s a lot of parts to the issue. I don’t think it leads to harder drugs. If they start to tax it, they will make money like they do on booze, but what about the effect on crime? It’s a lot to think about. I’m on the fence, because there’s nowhere else to be.

Flossie Davis
The Hub

I think it would be very good for the city financially and for the people as well. I think it’s up to the individual, if they want to go to the extreme. I think it’s good and it’s not a gateway drug. It won’t make you want to use other drugs, not me. I think there will be some competition, if you need to get a license to sell marijuana. If the stores start selling it, who knows the price they’re going to sell it for. The prices could be high and you’d still have the people selling it on the corner, selling it for a lower price.

Ashley Clemente
Mt. Hope

It’s definitely a good thing. The revenue it would generate and it would also bring us a lot closer as New Yorkers and as people, I think. Everybody smokes weed, you know that. A friend with weed is a friend indeed, you feel me? They’re bozos, it’s all in their heads. I’ve been smoking pot since I was 12 and I’m 27 and I haven’t touched another drug. Yes, it’s going to happen, it’s only a matter of time. I’ve been hoping for this for a long time.

John Yampier
Sunset Park, Brooklyn 

I think it’s good and bad, a little bit of both. In one way it’s good, is people can smoke outside and the police won’t harass them. But they shouldn’t legalize it because of the ‘drug free school zones,’ and I think that that could be a problem. I do think marijuana leads to harder drugs, it does. If they can work out some of these problems, it can be a good thing I guess.

Fermin Torres
Bedford Park

I think it would be a good thing for New York. I think it’s being used by so many people where I live at right now and if the city can turn a profit from it, it would be better. You see other states that have recreational marijuana and they’re bringing in taxes and the numbers are unimaginable. Making it legal instead of arresting everybody, when you know most partake. It’s a part of our culture and everything in the Bronx. People who think that are misinformed, it’s not true. I know people who’ve smoked weed their whole life and never touched another drug. I think it’s based on who you are as a person, your perspective and your environment. If they decriminalize it, that would be perfect, if they expunge those arrests because background checks are real for getting a job and people shouldn’t be penalized for something many people do.

Isaac Parrales
Fordham