Feb 12, 2008 11:05 pm US/Eastern
Pot Ballot Questions Aims At Changing Current Laws
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
A debate over recreational use of marijuana is heating up in Massachusetts.
The current drug law states if a person is caught with marijuana, it's a criminal offense.
However, there is a movement to change the law for recreational users.
As the law stands now, possession of less than one ounce of pot could still lead to a $500 fine and up to six months in jail.
Whitney Taylor is with the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, a group trying to decriminalize small amounts of pot.
"The punishment should fit the crime," she said.
Taylor says the current system wastes time and money.
"In Massachusetts, we are arresting 7,500 people a year for a simple possession of a small amount of marijuana," she said. "We spend $24.3 million a year in Massachusetts on just the arrest and booking of individuals who are charged with this crime. So we are saying let's turn it into a ticket system where the police officer writes a ticket like a speeding ticket."
Advocates for this ticket-type system say it has an even more important feature. Since possession of a small amount of pot would become a civil fine, a college student for example, wouldn't end up with a permanent criminal record.
"That can have an effect the rest of their lives," Taylor said. "Can't get into schools, so then unable to get the job, and then unable to get the housing and it can just snowball."
Rep. Marty Walsh is against the ballot question.
"Because it doesn't make sense," Walsh said. "It's a dangerous precedent. Why don't we decriminalize cocaine, if somebody has just a little bit of cocaine on them."
When asked if the message to young people is it's OK to smoke pot, Taylor said, "Not at all. The message to young people is, 'You will be punished but then you get to move on with your life."
Sixty-four percent of those polled in a WBZ exclusive Fast Track said that a small amount of pot should actually be legal or reduced to a civil crime. Some 34 percent disagree.
"We are clogging up our prisons with offenders with who are non-violent, who are not dangerous and not selling drugs," said Criminologist James Fox, of Northeastern University.
That's not an argument Rep. Walsh is willing to buy.
"Look around at the problem with the drugs and heroin in this commonwealth, in this state, in this country," Walsh said. "It began in some cases by smoking a joint."
This is a debate that's just catching fire.
The ballot question, which is expected to be voted on this fall, has a provision regarding young people. The ticket would be turned over to the minor's parents and the offender would also be required to perform community service and attend drug education classes.
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