BOARD VOTES DRAFT OF LETTER FOR MARIJUANA LAW REPEAL

AMHERST -- 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.