Pubdate: Sat, 06 Nov 2004
Source: Salem News (MA)
Copyright: 2004 Essex County Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.salemnews.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3466
Author: Sean Corcoran
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/props.htm (Ballot Initiatives)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/steven+epstein

CHANGES TO MARIJUANA LAW GAIN MOMENTUM

PEABODY - When state Sen. Frederick Berry voted  Tuesday, he first
marked the ballot lines for all his favorite Democrats and  then
considered the nonbinding referendum question at the  bottom.

"Shall the  state senator from this district be instructed to
introduce and vote in favor of  legislation making possession of
marijuana a civil violation, like a traffic  ticket..."

Berry voted "Yes," essentially instructing  himself to work to change
the state's drug laws. More than 13,600 other citizens  in this city
voted the same way. But  Berry is the  Senate minority leader, one of
the most powerful positions at the Statehouse.  While he's not a big
proponent of referendum questions like this one, he's been  thinking
for years that the state's marijuana laws need  revision.

And judging  by his chats with other lawmakers, he is not alone. "I
think it  is a total waste of money when people found with a small
amount of marijuana are  tying up the court system," Berry said. Berry
is also concerned that judges do not  have the freedom to make
sentencing decisions on a case-by-case basis. Judges  are restricted
by minimum-sentencing guidelines included in the state's drug  laws,
most of which were set up in the 1980s.

"In the  final analysis, we ought to give judges a little more
freedom," be said. Berry has no plans to file legislation to  change
the marijuana laws, he said, but he knows Sen. Cynthia Stone Creem of 
Newton does. And there seems to be growing support among state
officials to take  action. "I think a  lot of senators would like to
revisit this," Berry said. "I would probably prefer to see  some sort
of commission set up to look at the whole problem of drugs and 
sentencing."

That does  not mean that by the end of the next legislative session it
will be as  permissible to smoke a joint as it is to drive 45 mph in a
35 mph zone. But the  times, as they say, may be changing. Since the
2000 election, 28 municipalities  in Essex  County have endorsed some 
sort of change in the drug laws, according to the pro-pot lobby group 
NORML.

In  Tuesday's election, Salem, Beverly, Danvers, Peabody,  Topsfield,
Marblehead and Swampscott all endorsed a change  in the penalty for
marijuana possession, typically by about a 2-to-l  margin.

"Slowly but  surely, progress is being made," said Steven Epstein, the
Georgetown attorney leading  the local pro-pot push. "We have  hopes
that within the next legislative session while we may not pass the 
legislation because the governor may veto it and it may not move in
the House we  think as a money-making proposition, this could pass
the Senate," he said. "Or  at least get a vote."

Epstein  said the fines associated with making marijuana possession a
civil offense could  help local communities because at last half of
the money would go to the city or  town where the offense occurred.
The other reason to change the laws, he said,  is for the children.

"One of the  things we are looking for is to keep handcuffs off our
children and keep  criminal records off their backs," he said. As to
why  there appears to be increasing agreement locally that the laws
must change,  Epstein said it's because the drug is no longer as taboo
as it was, say, 20  years ago.

"We all  know people who have used it," he said, "and we all know
that, for the most  part, they are all pretty good people. Some of
them are even politicians."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin