If you are caught lighting up or passing it around you won't be put in handcuffs anymore. The State's new marijuana decriminalization law makes having small amounts of weed only a violation now, with a fine of up to $200.  It is no longer a criminal misdemeanor.

"Two ounces and less, whether somebody is holding it, smoking it, as long as they are not doing sales. We thought that two ounces was an amount small enough that people would never be out there selling that small amount," said state senator Kevin Parker.

For the last couple of years the NYPD and city prosecutors had already pulled back on arresting and giving summonses for small amounts of pot.

But where the new state law is going to have its biggest impact, misdemeanor marijuana convictions will be wiped clean. More than 160,000 people across the state will have their records sealed or expunged.

And nearly 11,000 people with convictions in the five boroughs will have no record at all. That's because the only record they had was for low level marijuana possession.  

"The process will be automatic, so people won't have to pay anybody. There's nothing else that people have to do specifically. Those records will actually be cleared away for people. They won't have to disclose when they apply for a job or for housing or things of that nature that they had prior arrests," said Melissa Moore, Director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

People can even petition the courts to destroy their marijuana conviction records.

Many state lawmakers where hoping to get adult marijuana use legalized, so this decriminalization law is the next best thing for now.

The NYPD reminds people, you can still be stopped and questioned if you are blowing smoke.  

"It is still against the law to smoke marijuana or to possess marijuana. So, enforcement action can be taken so I suggest don't smoke marijuana in public or possess it in public," said NYPD Chief Terance Monohan.

Public advocate Jumaane Williams says that's why weed should be legalized so that New Yorkers, especially people of color are not penalized for it at all.

"Who feels the impact of the decriminalization will still be 80 to 90 percent Blacks and Latinos. That why we have to work so hard to continue to push the legalization," said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

State lawmakers say that's exactly what they plan to do in the next session which starts in January.