Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
Massachusetts cannabis connoisseurs will be able to enjoy a joint, a bowl of hashish, or even a few hits of hash oil without fear of arrest beginning today. The decriminalization measure passed by Bay State voters in November provides for a maximum $100 fine for possession of up to an ounce of THC, thus including all cannabis products, according to state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security guidelines issued Monday.
marijuana plants
Now, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security has come to their rescue. In addition to spelling out the decriminalization of all forms of THC, its guidelines also make clear that existing laws against the distribution of marijuana or driving under its influence remain in effect. The office also explained that all police with civil enforcement powers, including campus cops, can issue citations.
The guidelines note that even now that small-time marijuana possession has been decriminalized, cities and towns may pass ordinances banning the public use of the herb, and encourages them to do so. Previously, such ordinances were unnecessary because possession of any amount was illegal. "EOPSS recommends that municipalities enact such bylaws or ordinances and provide police with the option of treating public use as a misdemeanor offense,'" the guidelines said.
According to the guidelines, police may still search people they suspect possess marijuana provided they have probable cause and exigent circumstances, and police may conduct a weapons search if there is particularized reason to believe a weapon is present. But because simple marijuana possession is no longer an arrestable offense, they may not conduct a search incident to arrest.
Pot smokers who wish to possess firearms will not be barred from seeking a license on the basis of a possession infraction, but those people who were charged under the old marijuana law will still be ineligible for that license, the guidelines said.
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
the idiots just don't get it
The people of Massachusetts have spoken but "their" government doesn't want to listen. Maybe all of the people that voted for decrim should rally behind the repeal of the income tax there. Putting a big financial crimp in their free spending ways will get them.
marijuana
YEAHH WEED!
The Next Step
Having seen this process take place in sevral other states, and seen things go from looking like thay might get better, to getting much worse, its time the voters take the next step.
Now that MAssachusetts has passed a decrim law, its to to keep pushing, you have the public suport, you have a goverment with empty pockets. It;s time to show that just how much money is waiteing for them by simply by allowing the pot loving public there weed. i dont know about the rest of you, but i would gladly pay a nice vice tax for my smoke, and not have to worry about getting busted. Who would not gladly pay a tax and not have to worry about jail, loss of job, family, income, life, due to an outdateed law.
Keep pushing Mass, you can do it, its not that hard to motavate a pot head.
go massachusetts smoke pot
waitin in india 4 such laws 2 be enacted.......after all we our the originators in true sense........boom shankar.
Greg
time and time again we see the usual response to deciminalization of weed in the panic-ridden how will we guard our children? does this mean everyone will smoke it anytime they want? will the airline pilot have just finished a joint? (that last one is actual in some old late60's/early70's scare propoganda) and the answer they do not hear is ...HELL NO! are the masses boozing it up during the work day because liquor is legal....NO, do airline pilots routinely fly you about soused out of their mind..NO. They respond further by stating that weed is a gateway drug! no more so than alchohol... but that broken record just keeps skipping backwards again and again to the point it makes me nauseaous..... more nauseaus than I was the last time I got drunk!
In reply to Greg by Anonymous (not verified)
hey Greg, good thing
hey Greg, good thing marijuana is excellent medicine for nausea!
SWEET
everyone's getting in a tizzy about this, but i doubt we'll see much of a change. maybe a few more kids smoking in the public gardens? when the sun comes out, the joints come out--happened last year, and it'll happen this year, only this time, the tokers will have even bigger smiles on their faces, and a feeling of absolute freedom in their hearts. i go to school in boston but live in washington, in a small town, and the cops here will bust you hard for any amount of weed, even residue on a piece, especially if you're young. it's great to know i can just smoke all over town and nobody can really stop me. hope the law stays poorly written forever--police are just giving up on dealing with potsmokers at all until the law gets rehauled. WHEEEE!
of course, after all that freedom-happy public weed smoking, i'll probably feeling like killing some bitches, vandalizing some property and generally wreaking havoc on society. oh wait, that's HARD drugs, silly me --- actually i'll probably just sit. listen to music. eat crackers. really bad.
Decriminalize Plants
The very thought of a plant being illegal reeks of government flexing it's angry muscle over a media drunk society that happily accepts these deprivations of consitutional liberties. We should be free to grow any plant as it is natural- and should have control over our own bodies to ingest, consume herbs as we choose.
At a very minimum- tax it and sell at as in the California example and take away power from dealers while generating massive needed spending resources for the overpaid state offices. At least we would have access to high quality skunk :) Stroll the streets of Amsterdam and you'd be surprised by how little surprises you (aside from the whores, which can be seen in any U.S. City,) smoking is contained to the coffee shops and there is actually a lower percentile of drug addicts there than i the U.S.
Prostitution should also be legalized and regulated to control rampant STD's but that;s another story. For now- legalize marijuana completely...recereational, medicinal, fiber, paper, fuel.....it is a plant that provided the fabric for our first flag.
Roll It Up
Marijuana is in fact not even marijuana. Before I blow all of you stoners' minds ou there....this was a name given to this beautiful plant by an anti drug propaganda campaign. Marihuana is actually a weed from Mexico. Cannabis- or Ganja (the sanscrit name for weed) dates back thousands of years. Then came along the Regan Administration to spread fear about this harmless palnt. It is impossible to overdose on THC. There are no conlusive studies supporting long term brain damage from ingesting caanabis. It helps many relax. Many simply enjoy it. It helps others with appetitite, including cancer patients. Yet, the Federal government fails to accept that the drug war cant be won and rather than embrace it and properly regulate cannabis- they continue with the "Reefer Madness" stories, often against state laws voted in the the people. Let the Ganja Grow!
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