cannabisnews.com: State Cuts Through Haze of Marijuana Law





State Cuts Through Haze of Marijuana Law
Posted by CN Staff on December 30, 2008 at 08:29:42 PT
By John P. Kelly, GateHouse News Service
Source: Enterprise
MA -- As Massachusetts prepares to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana on Friday, state officials are urging cities and towns to ban public pot smoking and assuring school administrators that students caught with the drug may still be disciplined.Guidelines issued Monday by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security also say that – as with marijuana – possession of an ounce or less of hashish may be reduced to a civil offense because its main psychoactive ingredient – THC – is the same as in marijuana.
Massachusetts will become the 12th state to do away with criminal penalties for light-weight possession, enacting a $100 fine instead of misdemeanor criminal charges. Voters passed the measure by referendum last month.Since then, law enforcement agencies have awaited guidelines on how to enforce the new law.While state officials expect the courts will eventually have to address unsettled questions about the law, the guidelines offer police departments a general roadmap for enforcement and make it clear that laws against selling marijuana or driving while stoned remain intact.The state agency encourages cities and towns to pass ordinances or bylaws banning the public use of marijuana, until now an unnecessary step because possessing any amount of marijuana was illegal. As of Friday, someone caught smoking a joint in public risks nothing more than a $100 fine.Attorney General Martha Coakley has prepared a sample bylaw that would punish public pot smokers with an additional $300 fine and the possibility of being charged with a misdemeanor crime.Last week, the state’s commissioner of elementary and secondary education, Mitchell Chester, said in a memo to superintendents that he believes they still will have authority to suspend or expel students caught with an ounce or less of marijuana on school property or at school-sponsored events. Chester suggested schools should rely on their own legal advice.Proponents of decriminalization argue the new law will free police to focus on more serious crimes. Still, police chiefs and the state’s 11 district attorneys opposed the referendum.Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating and Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz campaigned against the change, arguing marijuana is a proven gateway to harder narcotics and forewarned of “more carnage on the roads.”Under the new law, anyone under 18 would have to surrender their marijuana and pay the same fines as an adult if they complete a drug awareness program within a year. Failing to complete the program could result in the fine being raised to as much as $1,000.Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.Source: Enterprise, The (MA)Author: John P. Kelly, GateHouse News ServicePublished: December 30, 2008Copyright: 2008 GateHouse Media Inc.Contact: letters enterprisenews.comWebsite: http://www.enterprisenews.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/F8lt2AqmRelated Articles:Girding for New Marijuana Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24385.shtmlMarijuana Law Comes With Challengeshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread24375.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on January 01, 2009 at 08:42:50 PT
"Go team!" Indeed!
I think we're refreshed and renewed. We're good to go! Fighting injustice on every hand as hard as we can. Go! Go! Go!It's going to be a good year... maybe even a very excellent year, indeed.Go, go, go team! 
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on January 01, 2009 at 06:53:14 PT
OverwhelmSam
I understand what you are saying but alcohol for adults is legal not just decriminalized. I don't think alcohol is allowed at our state park that has a big lake. The one other big lake allows alcohol and no one likes it anymore since so many bottles are broken and thown in the lake and left on the berm.
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Comment #5 posted by OverwhelmSam on January 01, 2009 at 04:18:04 PT
New Initiative Needed in MA
To counter the anti-marijuana-jerks and make it as legal to smoke in public as it is to drink in public, you know at the lakes and sporting events. Battle the cities new laws one at a time in the mean time. Go Team!
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on December 30, 2008 at 09:48:53 PT
public
I think I'm going to start going into crowded public places and picking my nose and farting. They can't stop me, ha ha ha!!! You thought cannabis was bad, just wait!Excuse me, where does it say in the Constition that you're not allowed to drink a beer outdoors, or smoke tobacco or cannabis? NOWHERE!what the hell ever happened to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Looks a lot more like the pursuit of tyranny to me.
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Comment #3 posted by HempWorld on December 30, 2008 at 08:59:09 PT
FoM the law is ass-backwards ...
Having a bylaw that is 3x more severe as a violation of decrim. Smoking marijuana in public or otherwise is a victimless crime!Smoking cigarettes however is not because every year in excess of 38,000 Americans are killed every year, mostly children and infants (embryos) but who gives a damn about them anyway? But smoking cigarettes is not punished or criminalized at all and it should be if you consider the FACTS and the SCIENCE.THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO MORAL OR SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR ANY OF OUR CURRENT 'DRUG' LAWS.Obviously this bylaw reflects the fact that certain people go awol over the smell of marijuana. How horrible, quick, let's make it a severe 'crime.'
On a mission from God!
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 30, 2008 at 08:45:33 PT
HempWorld
This excerpt only says public pot smokers. People can't drink anywhere they want in public I don't think. Excerpt: Attorney General Martha Coakley has prepared a sample bylaw that would punish public pot smokers with an additional $300 fine and the possibility of being charged with a misdemeanor crime.
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on December 30, 2008 at 08:42:10 PT
Attorney General Martha Coakley has prepared a sam
ple bylaw.How nice and thoughtful of her!The original law fines you $100 and no misdemeanor but the bylaw adds $300 and adds the misdemeanor charge by the prosecutor frothing at the mouth.Finally 'justice' done! (thwarting the will of the voters? Nah!)
On a mission from God!
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