cannabisnews.com: New Marijuana Law Shouldn't Pose Problems New Marijuana Law Shouldn't Pose Problems Posted by CN Staff on January 02, 2009 at 05:37:53 PT Editorial Source: Eagle-Tribune Massachusetts -- On Nov. 4, a majority of voters in Massachusetts chose to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Those in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana are no longer charged with a criminal offense, but instead face a $100 fine.Today, the new law takes effect. Yet some local police departments, as well as others across the state, say they are uncertain about how to enforce it. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security just Monday issued guidelines for police departments on enforcement of the law. "We're ringing in the new year with a new law not everyone knows how to enforce," Lawrence police Chief John Romero told our reporters.Nearly two months have passed since 65 percent of Massachusetts voters changed the law. Despite their lack of enthusiasm for the law, state and local law enforcement agencies have had time to prepare.Under the new law, people caught with a small amount of marijuana will be forced to hand over the drug and pay a $100 fine. Those under 18 will be required to complete a drug awareness program or face a stiffer $1,000 fine. They can either pay a fine to a clerk or request a District Court hearing.To be sure, the new law on marijuana possession does raise questions. Police are now required to issue civil citations, essentially tickets, to violators. Police have pre-printed books of citations to issue to those who violate motor vehicle laws. These are carefully worded to conform to the existing laws and explain the violator's rights and responsibilities. What should the citations for the marijuana violations say?For some departments, the citations themselves pose no problem. Those police departments are more concerned about what happens next."We already have the citation paper. It's like any other civil infraction," Andover police Lt. James Hashem said. "It's what happens after, that is what's up in the air. The majority of headaches will be after the citation is issued."Hashem said the law is ambiguous and its scope will have to be settled by the first cases that make it to the courts.The appeal process leaves police wondering how much of their limited resources they should commit to marijuana cases.Groveland police Chief Robert Kirmelewicz wondered if departments will still have to send all confiscated marijuana to the drug lab to be tested as if it were a criminal case."If this is the case, it's going to require a lot of time, money and energy for what, a $100 fine?" he said.This should not be so difficult. Massachusetts is not the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Eleven other states have done so. Is there no experience from those states that Massachusetts law enforcement officials can draw upon?It's apparent that the will of the voters, for good or ill, was that simple possession of marijuana should be treated as a trivial matter. Pay a small fine and be done with it. The best course for police is to enforce the law as written and expend as few resources as possible doing so.The public doesn't see small amounts of marijuana as a problem. Neither should police.Source: Eagle-Tribune, The (MA)Published: January 02, 2009 Copyright: 2009 The Eagle-TribuneContact: letters eagletribune.comWebsite: http://www.eagletribune.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/hq16S6uSRelated Articles:Pot Law Leaves Rule Very Fuzzyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24393.shtmlPolice Should Simply Enforce Pot Law as Writtenhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24392.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #10 posted by Hope on January 05, 2009 at 09:36:55 PT Emotion, though, in my case, was the spark that ignited my efforts to fight this prohibition and it's hideous fruit. That emotion was anger. Anger at people and government that treat people like people have been treated over cannabis use and possession.The anger made me think. Thinking and logic made me realize that someone has to do something to fight this injustice.I'm still angry. I will always be angry about what has been done to people in the name of cannabis prohibition.But I want to use that anger, that emotion, constructively. I think I am, to the best of my ability... be it small and infinitesimal, or not.The "System" we have now hasn't harmed me directly, personally, for which I'm deeply grateful, but I've seen the harm, death, and destruction of lives that it's brought to other people... and I have to wonder what kind of people can just stand by quietly and watch that stuff happen to others, year after year, and let it continue to happen.They're either the perpetrators of the injustice, or too scared of the perpetrators to speak up, or they are some kind of stupid, or all three. [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on January 04, 2009 at 06:45:31 PT Hope I agree with you. If we look at any situation with logic instead of emotion I believe we make way better choices and we stay believable too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Hope on January 04, 2009 at 06:29:20 PT Look at that! Thinking logically without letting emotion rule our judgment. It would probably be a better world if most people did it more often. Emotion has value... but using our inner sense of logic, if it's basically sound, is a more profitable and sturdy foundation for most of our decisions and judgments in life, I've found. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Hope on January 04, 2009 at 06:24:40 PT You think about it differently than I do. "Dot to dot", as you've mentioned before, and I tend think... "Consequences?", but both ways of thinking are about logic and both reach the same conclusion. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on January 03, 2009 at 11:09:20 PT Hope To me it's a law that leaves way too many loose ends. Laws that don't go from A to B leave open all kinds of legal problems. [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Hope on January 03, 2009 at 10:58:00 PT Kind of like alcohol prohibition... You could have it, in your home and out of sight, and medicinally, I think ... you just couldn't brew it legally or go to a regular store and buy it. Prohibition of cannabis will eventually have to give way to sane and sensible regulation, and the sooner, the better. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by FoM on January 03, 2009 at 10:23:27 PT The Decriminalization Law Is Like A Shiny New Car What happened in Mass is like having a shiny new car but the car doesn't have a motor in it. The motor would allow people to grow a small amount for personal use in my opinion just like a person can brew their own beer. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Hope on January 03, 2009 at 10:15:42 PT This change for Massachusetts is a welcome step towards a better and safer world for everyone... but prohibition still exists there. It's the prohibition that causes the greatest danger to the most people. There will still be the uncontrolled, inflated, and very tempting, to many, black market. It doesn't matter how harmless the prohibited substance is or isn't. If there is a sizable demand among the citizenry for something, combined with prohibition of the stuff ... there will be a black market. The more severe the enforcement of the prohibition... the more dangerous the black market defying that prohibition. As long as there is prohibition of cannabis and not regulation, on a truly reasonable level, there will still be more danger than necessary for everyone, everywhere, involved or not, because the greatest dangers are in fact not from the plant, at all, but from the prohibition and it's consequences. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by afterburner on January 03, 2009 at 07:30:07 PT First There Is a Mountain then There Is NoMountain "The appeal process leaves police wondering how much of their limited resources they should commit to marijuana cases."Answer: very little!"This should not be so difficult. Massachusetts is not the first state to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. Eleven other states have done so. Is there no experience from those states that Massachusetts law enforcement officials can draw upon?"You heard it here first. Considering that states share information of everything from waste management to road repair, what is the problem? "Hello Governor Strickland, how do you manage Ohio's decriminalization law?" [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on January 03, 2009 at 03:08:23 PT This might be my favorite bunch of editors - "The public doesn't see small amounts of marijuana as a problem. Neither should police."Here's what sane journalists look like -http://www.eagletribune.com/contactus [ Post Comment ] Post Comment