N.H. DEBATES MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION

Ex-Salem Officer, Kingston Rep. Back Bill

WINDHAM - Retired Salem police Officer John Tomassi is among a
handful of police officers who believe the criminal penalties for
marijuana possession are too severe.

Tomassi, a Windham resident, is testifying in support of a New
Hampshire bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. If passed,
people caught with a quarter ounce of pot would receive a ticket and
a maximum $200 fine. Attempts to legalize marijuana have failed in
the past. But last week, a House subcommittee passed this bill 3-1
with some amendments. The measure still has a long way to go before it
becomes law, and David Welch, R-Kingston, predicts this new attempt
to reform marijuana laws will also go up in smoke.

Yet, he was one of the three who voted for the bill. Welch wants
lawmakers to debate the issue and said if the bill has a chance of
passage, it would make for a livelier discussion.

"We haven't had the debate in a long time," Welch said. The move to
debate marijuana use comes from the plight of teens who smoked pot in
high school and find out later a drug conviction has disqualified
them for college grants, he said.

Ideally, Welch said, the publicity about the bill will "hit the
streets" and young people experimenting with marijuana will hear about
the consequences and not use drugs. Meanwhile, lawmakers can consider
if New Hampshire should join other states, including Maine, that have
reduced the penalties. "We need to have a good discussion and find
out if this is something we want to do," he said.

So far, 12 states have decriminalized marijuana, according to Matt
Simon, executive director of the New Hampshire Coalition for Common
Sense Marijuana Policy. He called the vote evidence of "growing
consensus among legislators that New Hampshire's penalties for simple
marijuana possession are unnecessarily harsh." Simon, who has taught
college classes, said he witnessed the impact on his students, their
families, and the youths' future employment prospects. "It's a case
of the cough syrup being worse than the cough," Simon said. These
teens do not deserve to be followed through life by a criminal
record, he added. Tomassi, who now teaches economics at Bentley
College, sees the problem from both an economic and law enforcement
perspective.

Legalization would not end the nation's drug problem but it would
stop the violence, he said. Last year, 1.8 million people were charged
with drug crimes, Tomassi said.

"You would like to think most of them were major drug dealers," he
said. But most were charged with marijuana possession. Tomassi said
drug dealers fear the legalization of drugs, which would dry up their
profits and put them out of business. He draws a parallel between the
current situation and crime during Prohibition.

Most police officers, however, are telling lawmakers that reducing
the penalty for marijuana would send the wrong message to teens, said
Ellen Neilsen, D-Claremont. Neilsen said police testimony is taken
seriously, but she still believes the war on drugs has been a failure.

"We need to try a new approach," she said, and consider separating
marijuana from more serious drugs, such as heroin.

John Tholl, R-Whitefield, also voted not to kill the bill and, like
Welch, wants a debate on the issues.

"I have mixed feelings about the whole thing," said Tholl, who is a
police chief. But he pointed out that the courts are treating
marijuana possession cases more like violations.

"To be honest, most convicted people pay a fine," he said. "What kind
of message does that send to kids?" Tholl also said he voted for the
bill to make sure it was amended.

The original version would have decriminalized possession of 11/4
ounces of marijuana. That's now a felony, Tholl said, noting he would
not favor seeing it reduced to a violation.