Massachusetts voters will have the opportunity to approve marijuana decriminalization in November. State Secretary William Galvin last week announced that a decriminalization initiative sponsored by the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy (CSMP) had successfully overcome the second signature-gathering hurdle facing initiatives in the Bay State.

Earlier this year, backers of the initiative had to turn in at least 66,000 valid signatures. CSMP easily met that challenge, and it met the challenge of gathering an additional 11,099 signatures in the second phase of the process. CSMP actually turned in 13,581 signatures in phase two. The deadline for challenging the signatures passed Wednesday.

Under current Massachusetts law, simple possession of marijuana can get you six months in jail and a $500 fine. A marijuana arrest also results in the creation of a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) report. Advocates argue that CORI reports jeopardize a person's ability to obtain jobs, housing, and college loans, among other collateral damage.

The initiative would remedy the situation by:

• Amending the current criminal statutes so that adults possessing an ounce or less of marijuana for personal use would be charged with a civil infraction and fined.

• Removing the threat of a CORI report for minor marijuana possession charges.
• Maintaining current penalties for selling, growing, and trafficking marijuana, as well as the prohibition against driving under the influence of marijuana.

In addition to creating a more sensible and humane response to marijuana use and possession, passage of the measure would save taxpayers about $29.5 million a year in law enforcement resources currently consumed by low-level marijuana arrests, advocates said.

The initiative is already noteworthy for prompting Boston Herald columnist and curmudgeon Howie Carr to pen what is probably the snarkiest, and smarmiest anti-marijuana column to appear in a major American newspaper in years, Sensible Pot a Half-Baked Policy, Dudes. Howe claims "marijuana makes you stupid." What's his excuse?