cannabisnews.com: Board Votes Draft of Letter for MJ Law Repeal





Board Votes Draft of Letter for MJ Law Repeal
Posted by FoM on January 23, 2001 at 07:57:26 PT
By Diane Lederman
Source: Union-News 
Prompted by a town vote last March, the Select Board has approved a draft of a letter that urges state and federal officials to repeal laws prohibiting the use of marijuana. The letter was drafted by board member Carl W. Seppala and approved with minor changes, mostly grammatical, by the Select Board last night. The board will sign the letter at its meeting next week and send it to all officials involved. 
Voters decided by a 1,659 to 981 margin to urge the board and town manager "to persuade our State Representative, State Senator, U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators to repeal the prohibition of marijuana." It also urged police to ease "the enforcement of laws covering the possession of marijuana." The draft letter does not discuss enforcement. In the letter, Seppala wrote, "The Select Board agrees that it is time to acknowledge that the doctrine supporting the current drug war has failed and to begin the serious consideration of alternatives. "The misplaced focus of the drug war is eroding the civil rights associated with the Fourth Amendment, creating injustice in the legal system and impairing the well being of society by denying the educational opportunities of an entire class of individuals." Seppala with fellow board member Anne S. Awad's help, worked on the letter after members of the Citizens for a Sensible Marijuana Policy presented a letter they wanted to the board to sign in October. The board said it would draft its own letter. Seppala said drafting the letter "was harder than I expected." He said there are so many opinions on the issue. But he said "I think it's time. There are millions of marijuana users. It's part of the culture." What he'd like to see, however, that if it eventually becomes legal that "we think about its impact." He talked about the end of Prohibition and how long it took for people to address the abuses of alcohol, such as drinking and driving. "We're pretty happy with it," said Aaron Wilson of the citizens group. "We are positively thrilled it was a unanimous voted. We're very to thankful to the board." Wilson said that he has met with Police Chief Charles L. Scherpa to talk about the enforcement issues and that's still a piece of the referendum that needs to be addressed. Wilson did not know of any other towns or cities to send such a letter, but he said between 15 and 20 marijuana bills are being drafted in the state Legislature dealing with criminal as well as medicinal aspects of marijuana. Both Rep. Ellen Story, D- Amherst and State Rep. Benjamin Swan, D-Springfield, are involved with some of those bills involving marijuana for medicinal uses, he said. Voters in eight states have approved medical marijuana ballot questions, including Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Maine. Select Board Chairman Bryan C. Harvey said he wanted to point out what the letter is not saying. "The statement is not advocating unfettered access," he said. Nor does it apply to other drugs. Amherst, Mass.Source: Union-News (MA) Author: Diane LedermanPublished: Tuesday, January 23, 2001Address: P.O. Box 2350, Springfield, MA 01102-2350 Copyright: 2001 Union-News Fax: (413) 788-1301 Contact:  unews-letters union-news.com Website: http://www.masslive.com/news/ Forum: http://www.masslive.com/forums/springfield/MassCannhttp://www.masscann.org/CannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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