Pubdate: Fri, 02 Jan 2009 Source: Boston Globe (MA) Copyright: 2009 Globe Newspaper Company Contact: http://bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340 Website: http://www.boston.com/globe/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?246 (Policing - United States - News) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) AN INCONVENIENT QUESTION The state's new law decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana takes effect today, and while it is not likely to turn Massachusetts into Amsterdam overnight, there are several loopholes and loose ends about the law - passed by the ballot Question 2 in November - that need addressing. The most pressing issue is how to enforce the core provision that replaces criminal penalties for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana with a $100 fine. Now that pot possession is a civil offense, police lack the right to make an arrest or demand identification, so they cannot be sure the citations they issue will be paid. Worse, the new law requires the parents of minors be notified, and the youngsters be steered to a drug-awareness program. Most savvy teenagers know that starting today they need not produce identification or tell an officer their age. The solution for this is corrective language that would give police the right to confirm identity if they had reason to believe a person is in possession of the drug. Requiring ID can be intrusive, but proponents of Question 2 should have thought of that when they wrote the minors' provisions, which made the initiative more palatable to many voters. Some legislators are chary of seeming to overturn the will of the people, given that 65 percent of the voters approved Question 2. We agree. Similarly, the notion of local communities passing their own ordinances criminalizing use of marijuana in public seems unduly complicated. But corrective legislation designed to make Question 2 work is entirely appropriate. The state Legislature didn't ask for this fight, but it is often left to representative democracy to correct what government-by-ballot question has wrought. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin