MARIJUANA GROUP RAISES $219,000 FOR DECRIMINALIZATION

Foes of Income Tax Repeal Take in $1.5m

A man charged with drug offenses nearly a decade ago after a
Massachusetts Institute of Technology student fatally overdosed on
laughing gas contributed $25,000 to the supporters of a ballot
question to decriminalize minor marijuana possession because he
believes changing the law could help avert future tragedies.

Rene Ruiz, 31, of Boston made one of the largest donations to the
Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy this year, according to
campaign finance reports filed yesterday. The group raised more than
$219,000 from January to August.

He and a friend were charged with drug offenses in 1999, when police
found drugs and paraphernalia in the friend's dorm apartment, where
22-year-old MIT student Richard Guy overdosed on laughing gas. Ruiz
and his friend were out of state at the time, and authorities did not
directly connect them to Guy's death.

Ruiz, who ultimately paid a fine and served probation, said yesterday
that he is sorry for what happened. He believes drug use should be
treated more as a public health issue and less as a matter for the
criminal justice system.

"It's not that it's wrong to punish people for using drugs," Ruiz
said. "That's perfectly fine. But punishment in and of itself has not
solved the problem."

Critics, including Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.,
have argued that the marijuana sold on the streets today is more
potent than before and that decriminalization sends the wrong message
to youth. Opponents have not formally raised money to fight the ballot
proposal.

If the measure is approved in November, Massachusetts would become the
13th state to lift or ease criminal penalties on marijuana possession.
The proposal would make having an ounce or less of the drug a civil
offense punishable by a $100 fine. It would also require parental
notification and the completion of a drug awareness program for anyone
under 18 caught with an ounce or less of the drug.

Meanwhile, the Coalition for Our Communities, which opposes a ballot
question repealing the state income tax, raised just over $1.5 million
between January and August, mostly from labor unions. The National
Education Association donated $750,000.

"This reckless proposal is binding," coalition spokesman Stephen
Crawford said, "and would have a devastating effect on important
services every person in the state depends upon: safe roads and
bridges, ambulance service that arrives in time, and classroom sizes
that allow our kids to learn and become active members of our community."

The Committee for Small Government, which supports the repeal, had not
posted its financial information by midevening yesterday.

Cutting the income tax would reduce by nearly 40 percent the amount of
money Massachusetts takes in each year. Municipal leaders have said
the proposal would cripple government, while supporters argue that
taxpayers would save thousands of dollars per year.

Mayors have urged Governor Deval Patrick to campaign against the
proposed income tax repeal.

"People hate paying taxes. . . . I understand that," Patrick said
Thursday. "But I also think that we're going to have to start leveling
with each other, that the services people say they want cost
something."