cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Won’t Be Decriminalized Until January





Marijuana Won’t Be Decriminalized Until January
Posted by CN Staff on December 04, 2008 at 09:39:10 PT
By Alice C. Elwell, GateHouse News Service
Source: Daily News Tribune
Boston, MA -- If you’re thinking about strolling down the street smoking a joint, better wait. The Nov. 4 ballot initiative that decriminalized marijuana won’t take effect at least until January.Brian McNiff, spokesman for the secretary of state, has said that according to the state’s Constitution, new legislation takes effect 30 days after an election.
On Wednesday, the Governor’s Council certified the Nov. 4 vote. McNiff said that means a Supreme Judicial Court ruling in 1972 on the 30-day clause in the state Constitution means the 30-day delay starts today.Once the law is implemented, if someone is caught with less than an ounce of marijuana, they will face a $100 fine but no criminal charges.Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz called the measure “defacto legislation,” even though marijuana is still illegal.“Decriminalization is not legalization,” Cruz said. “Where are people going to get their marijuana? Not Tedeschi’s — they’re going to a drug dealer.”Meanwhile, top law officials are scrambling to figure out how to implement the mandate.Cruz didn’t speculate if cops would start carrying scales, but warned, “drug dealers aren’t stupid, they won’t be carrying a pound of marijuana around."He said dealers will keep it under an ounce and if caught, chalk the $100 fine to the cost of doing business.Dealers may tack it on to the price, which is reportedly about $600 an ounce on the street.Source: Daily News Tribune (Waltham, MA)Author:  Alice C. Elwell, GateHouse News ServicePublished: December 4, 2008Copyright: 2008 The Daily News TribuneContact: bspiegel cnc.comURL: http://drugsense.org/url/6nbvRIqmWebsite: http://www.dailynewstribune.comRelated Articles:Question 2 Landslide Opens Drug Policy Debatehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24300.shtmlMajority Agrees That Some Users Unduly Punishedhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24299.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by museman on December 05, 2008 at 09:53:33 PT
from article posted #1
" They're tired of enriching terrorists. " (the cops)While I applaud the fact that some cops are desiring to 'come clean' with the aspect of the WOD, and any 'step in the right direction' is a step in the right direction, the idea that prohibition, and cannabis prohibition in particular, is much more than the tip of the iceberg of personal liberty and freedom, is just another symptomatic, band-aid philosophy -treating the symptom instead of the cause.Trying to pin the act on 'terrorism' is just ludicrous, particularly when the real 'terrorists' in the world are the very masters that these cops all serve, whether they know and admit it or not. There is 'profit' in 'drug dealing' because people have been conditioned, forced, programmed, and taught to believe in the value of money as the supreme value in the world. If it isn't 'drugs' then it would be some other commodity, belief, philosophy, or artifact that is desired by people, but not their rulers.People who use cannabis for some strange reason (not often acknowleged) tend to put more value on its benefits than the fear of the very real possibility of hassle, arrest, and encareration that accompanies its use like an unwanted possible side effect. People who are addicted to hard drugs also tend to value their drug very highly, and money is the secondary god to the drug.The sickness in the world is stored in banks and wallets. Its passed around on a daily basis, spreading its corruption like the plague it really is. If we really wanted 'prohibition' worthy of the best of our intentions, a 'wealth prohibition' would solve a lot more problems than all the run-arounds, compromises, and half-ass recognition of truths -like the postulations of LEAP that claim to want an end to prohibition, but keep clinging to false authority, false morality, and false 'law' because they can't admit that the very 'service' they claim to fulfil, is at the heart of the corruption and loss of our civil liberties. (no offense to those who are trying to make the best of a bad situation). I support any positive action in this stupid war against consciousness, but cannot accept these bandaids as any real long term, permanent solutions.If you are employed as a legal murderer, legal thief, legal break-and-enterer, and a legal bully, you can't justify all that garbage by attempting to assuage your guilt through ackowledging one truth, while denying all the rest.Yes, its true, you cops should heve never allowed your elite-rich masters to give you so much power over the people, but don't tell me that you didn't enjoy it when you were busting down those doors, catching people naked in their beds, and holding them at gunpoint while you went through their stuff with callous disregard, mocking your hapless victims all the while. Don't tell me that you didn't enjoy it. That is a lie, and you know it. I've known a few cops in my day, as well as having two brothers who aspired to the position (who got busted smoking pot before they got into the force, and couldn't get in.) I had a good friend whom I met in the unemployment line (fired as an undercover cop.) Not all are sick power fiends, but most of the ones who aren't don't last long -they either get disgusted and quit, or the 'fraternal brotherhood' sets 'em up and they get wasted.So, by all means, lend all your 'copness' to ending prohibition, but you can stop spouting the old republican BS from the last decade or so 'terrorism! terrorism!' because the REAL terrorists have been revealed, and if you continue to align yourselves with these monsters, you will share their fate. Fact. Truth. Deny all you want, its coming home to roost.LEGALIZE FREEDOM
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on December 04, 2008 at 13:48:03 PT
Nice article.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/12/booze_or_drugs_prohibition_mak.html
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