Voters across the North Shore yesterday overwhelmingly decided that personal possession of an ounce or less of marijuana should be decriminalized. Question 2 on the ballot was approved by nearly a 2-1 ratio in every community. The only place the vote was at all close was in Peabody, where police Chief Robert Champagne was a vocal opponent of the measure. Even there, however, the measure won favor with 58 percent of voters.

"It is what it is," Champagne said. "The people have spoken." His concern now is that there is no system in place to issue citations, as the question calls for, he said.

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