INIATIVES PROVOKE IRE, JOY

The possession of an ounce or less of marijuana will be
decriminalized, dog racing will banned by 2010, and the state income
tax isn't going away, Massachusetts residents decided on Tuesday when
they voted on three state-wide ballot questions.

When the law governing marijuana goes into effect in November or
December, people will not be arrested for the possession of small
quantities of marijuana, said Whitney Taylor, the chairwoman of the
Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy, an advocacy group that
supports decriminalization.

The effect, Taylor said, will be that people "won't be punished for
the rest of their lives" if they are caught with the drug. Instead,
people over 18 will face a fine of $100, and minors will have to
complete a drug awareness program and perform community service.

Whitney said that while the "legislature can always introduce a new
vote" to overturn the initiative, she said that the 65 percent of the
vote that the initiative received constitutes "a mandate."

"Politicians wish they won their races by 65 percent of the vote," she
said.

Students and professors interviewed were supportive of the
initiative.

"It's a small step, because it doesn't change the laws radically,"
said Jeffrey A. Miron, a Harvard economics professor.

But the implications for Harvard students are "very, very small," he
said, because marijuana will still be illegal. And the change in the
law will not alter Harvard's policies on illegal drug possession.

"Harvard is still perfectly free to set whatever policy it wants,"
Miron said.

Charles R. Nesson '60, a professor at Harvard Law School who filed a
lawsuit earlier this year challenging the constitutionality of drug
laws, said he was "very pleased" with the passage of the initiative.

Nesson said it was a "very big step conceptually," because "it
recognizes that doing something that harms no one is not an
appropriate basis for making someone a criminal." But as far as
actually changing anything, Nesson added, it was a "very small step."

Intiya Isaza-Figueroa '10, a native of North Hampton, Mass., said she
voted to decriminalize marijuana, but that she does not believe that
the initiative will reduce social stigmas about marijuana use.

Diana G. Kimball '09, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich. who is registered
in Cambridge, said she voted to decriminalize marijuana because
"having a criminal record is really serious," but added that she
generally feels less educated about the ballot questions than about
the presidential race.

"I made the decision that rang liberal to me," she said when deciding
which initiatives to vote for.

The same philosophy guided her on the other two initiatives as well:
when it came to deciding whether to ban dog racing, Kimball said,
"Cruelty is usually a pretty good thing to get rid of."

But the ban on dog racing proved to be the most controversial of the
three--it passed 56 to 44, the smallest margin of the
initiatives.

Isaza-Figueroa said she voted against it.

"I don't bet on dog racing personally," she said. "I don't think it
was a significant part of our industry."

The ballot question on the income tax was decided by the largest
margin, with 70 percent voting to keep the income tax and 30 percent
voting to abolish it.

Thuy N. Quan '11 said she voted against the question because
Massachusetts is already "billions of dollars in debt."

She questioned where funding for public schools would come from if the
initiative had passed.

the initiative.

Nesson said it was a "very big step conceptually," because "it
recognizes that doing something that harms no one is not an
appropriate basis for making someone a criminal." But as far as
actually changing anything, Nesson added, it was a "very small step."

Intiya Isaza-Figueroa '10, a native of North Hampton, Mass., said she
voted to decriminalize marijuana, but that she does not believe that
the initiative will reduce social stigmas about marijuana use.

Diana G. Kimball '09, a native of Ann Arbor, Mich. who is registered
in Cambridge, said she voted to decriminalize marijuana because
"having a criminal record is really serious," but added that she
generally feels less educated about the ballot questions than about
the presidential race.

decided by the largest margin, with 70 percent voting to keep the
income tax and 30 percent voting to abolish it.

Thuy N. Quan '11 said she voted against the question because
Massachusetts is already "billions of dollars in debt."

She questioned where funding for public schools would come from if the
initiative had passed.