Pubdate: Sun, 11 Mar 2012
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2012 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619
Author: Laura Krantz

PROPOSED MEDICAL MARIJUANA LAW HAS MANY AT ODDS OVER POT

Police say the law that decriminalized small amounts of marijuana is 
toothless and ineffective as a tool for controlling drug use.

A 2008 ballot measure, known as Question 2, made possession of an 
ounce or less of the drug a civil crime, punished by a $100 fine.

The law does not include a penalty for not paying that fine, nor does 
it require a person to correctly identify him or herself.

Question 2 as proposed and passed has quite a few flaws in it," said 
Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of 
Police Association, which opposed the ballot measure four years ago.

As a result, many officers said the fine is not always enforced. When 
it is, they said only some people pay it.

The 2008 ballot question was submitted as a citizen petition after 
marijuana legalization advocates gathered more than 100,000 
signatures. It was passed overwhelmingly, by 63 percent of 
Massachusetts voters.

This year, citizens have submitted four more petitions, which would 
legalize medical marijuana. Those petitions are now before the Legislature.

Police say increasing access to the drug won't make enforcement any easier.

The problem with medical marijuana is again, it's further opening up 
that door," Sampson said.

Local officers agreed.

Our first reaction is one of caution," said Hudson Police Chief Richard Braga.

If it's more available it would increase the usage of it," said 
Westborough Lt. Todd Minardi. That town issued 12 fines last year, 
according to police.

In the meantime, police said they are frustrated with the current law.

When you have a law, you should have some means to require that a 
fine is paid," said Wayland Police Chief Robert Irving.

But Thomas Kiley, the attorney who wrote the 2008 measure, said his 
goal was a broad concept that voters could understand.

I didn't write it to satisfy law enforcement," Kiley said. "I wrote 
it in the belief that the war on drugs, which has gone on for years, 
is an abject failure."

Marijuana legalization advocates said police should focus on more 
important issues.

Should these municipalities really be spending time worrying about 
how these marijuana tickets are being filed?" asked Morgan Fox, a 
spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that helped 
pass the 2008 measure.

After 2008, several legislators tried to beef up the decriminalization law.

Rep. Cleon Turner, D-Dennis, who was a police officer for 14 years, 
filed an unsuccessful bill last term to plug the loopholes. He filed 
it again this session.

Michael Morrissey, now the Norfolk district attorney, also tried to 
amend the law while he was a state senator.

The statue on the books is a joke, as it's written right now," Morrissey said.

He said it doesn't make sense that an 18-year-old carrying a six-pack 
should face a more severe penalty than one smoking a joint.

We should put some teeth in the law," he said.

Morrissey said he hasn't made up his mind yet about medical marijuana.

If Beacon Hill lawmakers ignore the medical marijuana initiatives 
until May 1, citizens can collect more signatures and land it on the 
Nov. 6 ballot, as they did in 2008.

Many MetroWest communities in the last three years have enacted 
bylaws to increase the fine for use in public. In Hudson, for 
example, pot smokers must pay the town $300 on top of the $100 fine 
if they are caught using the drug in public.

But Fox said marijuana legalization advocates don't support these extra fines.

It's a little bit meddlesome to be trying to subvert the will of the 
voters," he said.

The fact of the matter is, the law enforcement don't like this law so 
they're nitpicking," said Fox.

While police could technically take someone to court for not paying 
the fine, police have said the cost of sending an officer to court is 
more than the $100 the department would recover.

In addition, since the law doesn't require a person's name, police 
might not know how to find the person.

You have a citation that you don't really have a person associated 
with," said Wayland Chief Irving.

This law has some peculiar loopholes," he said.

Morrissey said in his role as district attorney, he has never seen 
someone brought to court for not paying a marijuana fine.

While other laws have shortcomings, Morrissey said "this is one that 
sticks out as kind of a glaring example."

In order for the medical marijuana question to appear on November's 
ballot, it would need 11,485 signatures, which must be submitted to 
Secretary of State William Galvin's office by July 3, according to 
the office's spokesman, Brian McNiff.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom