Last verified: March 2026

Current Penalties Under the MRTA

The MRTA transformed New York's cannabis penalty structure. What once carried years of imprisonment now results in violations or misdemeanors at most for personal possession amounts.

Possession Penalties

Sale and Distribution Penalties

• Unlicensed sale — criminal penalties remain in effect for selling cannabis without an OCM license
• Sale to a minor — enhanced penalties for providing cannabis to anyone under 21
• Unlicensed cultivation for sale — distinct from legal home growing, selling homegrown cannabis is illegal

Automatic Expungement

One of the MRTA's most transformative provisions was mandatory automatic expungement. An estimated 108,000 to 150,000 prior marijuana convictions were automatically cleared without requiring individuals to petition a court or hire an attorney. This was one of the largest automatic expungement programs in American history.

The expungement applied to convictions for conduct that is now legal under the MRTA. This included simple possession charges, many of which had been used disproportionately against Black and Hispanic New Yorkers. Data showed that 94% of NYPD marijuana arrests targeted Black or Hispanic New Yorkers despite similar usage rates across racial groups.

The Broader Context

New York's penalty reform reflects a national trend toward treating cannabis violations as civil matters rather than criminal offenses. The state's approach — combining decriminalization of personal amounts, automatic expungement, and redirecting enforcement toward unlicensed commercial operations — has become a model for other states.

Current enforcement energy is overwhelmingly directed at the unlicensed market rather than personal possession. Operation Padlock to Protect has padlocked over 1,600 unlicensed shops and seized $113.9 million in illegal products since 2024.