ACTIVISTS PUSH MARIJUANA REFERENDUMS According to federal government estimates, about 335,000 adults in Massachusetts smoked marijuana during the past month. And in preparation for the Nov 7. election, some have ''come out of the closet'' to petition publicly in three state legislative districts for measures seeking decriminalization of the drug. In what supporters say marks the emergence of a new marijuana legalization effort here, residents in 11 communities will vote on initiatives urging their legislators to make possession of an ounce or less of marijuana a civil, rather than criminal offense. Though the measures are nonbinding, proponents say they will force lawmakers to recognize the widespread sentiment that drug laws should be liberalized. ''We hope it gives evidence to Massachusetts politicians that there's popular support for the reform of these laws,'' said Bill Downing, president of Mass-CANN, the state affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The districts include those of Senator Charles Shannon, Democrat of Somerville; Representative Brad Hill, Republican of Ipswich; and Representative John Stasik, Democrat of Framingham. The initiative also proposes that those under 18 caught smoking marijuana should be held by police until a parent arrives, rather than arrested. There is no organized opposition to the measure, but many dismiss it as unlikely to pass, and a bad message to send to children. Karen Langlais, an eighth-grade teacher in Ipswich and mother of teenagers, said she can't imagine Question 9 being approved. ''Most parents are educated voters who, because of the DARE program, and other initiatives have been educated about the dangers of marijuana,'' Langlais said. ''We are working to get cigarettes and alcohol away from kids, so why turn around in the face of all of that hard work and then decriminalize marijuana.'' Hill said he hopes voters reject the measure and spare him an awkward dilemma. ''I would have to consider it if it's passed by an overwhelming majority,'' said Hill, who represents 45,000 people. ''But philosphically, I am against this. It's a subject that has come up quite a few times and now we can get a true sense of how people really feel about marijuana.'' Meanwhile, Barnstable voters will cast ballots on whether marijuana should be legalized for medical purposes. Energized by the national movement to relax marijuana laws, activists collected signatures in Massachusetts this year to put a question on decriminalizing the drug on the state-wide ballot, but only collected 36,000 - about half the signatures needed. So Maddy Webster, a 54-year-old computer programmer, brought the initiative to the Somerville state Senate district by collecting 1,200 outside of supermarkets and cafes in her area. Webster, whose boyfriend used marijuana to ease his pain before he died of cancer a few years ago, said most people walked right by her petition - until they heard the cause. ''Then they'd come back,'' she said. ''I have had police officers sign it. I had people pushing baby carriages.'' Jim Pillsbury, the activist behind the Framingham initiative, explains his cause in nearly identical terms. He was a 32-year-old engineer and father, serving in his local Parent Teachers Association, when he was arrested for growing marijuana in 1985. ''It was terrible,'' he said. ''Then I just thought the best thing would be to come out of the closet and say, `Hey, I smoke pot, and I'm not going to ashamed of it for anybody.''' Today, Pillsbury eats hemp granola cereal, wears hemp shirts and hangs framed hemp leaves around his living room. And, of course, he said, he smokes it. But Pillsbury claims to be the public face for thousands who are far more mainstream: people like David Monte, a Somerville patrolman who said he voted for the initiative by absentee ballot yesterday. ''I believe a lot of court time is wasted on possession of marijuana,'' said Monte, who said he was speaking only as a voter, not on behalf of the police department. ''I think it takes up a lot of bureaucracy, when the money could be better spent in other ways.''
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