*By Jacqueline Corba*
The Manhattan District Attorney said until marijuana is legal in New York, the best he can do is stop prosecuting people who smoke pot to halt the "unfair" application of a law he said should change.
"Use of marijuana is clearly not going to stop," said the district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr. "So, we need to legalize it."
Vance's office stopped [prosecuting](https://www.manhattanda.org/tomorrow-d-a-vance-ends-prosecution-of-marijuana-possession-and-smoking-cases/) marijuana possession this month. The new policy is expected to reduce marijuana prosecutions in the borough from 5,000 a year to fewer than 200.
[New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in June](https://www.wsj.com/articles/nypd-wont-arrest-most-people-caught-smoking-marijuana-in-public-1529376047) that beginning in September, the police would not arrest most people caught smoking marijuana in public and issue summonses instead.
Vance said de Blasio's policy is a welcome change, but it won't address the "significant racial disparity" in how the laws are applied.
"Clearly, the governor and the mayor are talking about marijuana in a way they weren't a year ago," Vance said. "By our office being active in raising the subject and taking the policy to its furthest, logical safe limit, this is bringing law enforcement to the table."
In a [report](https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/DANY-Report-on-the-Legalization-of-Recreational-Marijuana-Final.pdf) Vance's office published in May on the fairness and execution of marijuana policy, the D.A. found that 86 percent of those arrested and charged with criminal possession of marijuana in New York last year were people of color.
As part of his research, Vance said his office spent six months talking to officials in states that have legalized marijuana. One day, he said, New York can successfully follow their lead.
"I absolutely believe that if New York State legalizes the sale and possession of marijuana, that will have a big impact on states that are on the fence, and I think that is the right direction," Vance said.
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-the-racial-disparity-among-marijuana-arrests-in-nyc).
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
A new poll finds most U.S. adults are worried about health care becoming more expensive.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
