MAJORITY AGREES THAT SOME USERS UNDULY PUNISHED

BOSTON - The district attorney and the head of the group that pushed
Massachusetts voters to overwhelmingly back a huge reduction in the
penalty for marijuana possession don't agree on a lot of things.

One thing on which they do agree: Voters bought the argument that kids
and adults caught with marijuana are unfairly burdened under the
present law, which can saddle them with a criminal record for the rest
of their lives.

Norfolk County District Attorney William Keating said that perception
is, in fact, a myth, no matter what voters believed. Most first-time
offenders, he said, have their cases dismissed before
arraignment.

Whitney Taylor is chairwoman of the Committee for Sensible Marijuana
Policy, the group largely responsible for passage this past week of
the ballot question that will reduce the penalty for possession of
less than an ounce of marijuana to a ticket and a $100 fine. Taylor
argued the punishments under the existing law have prevented
respectable people from getting jobs, school loans or custody of their
children.

"The current law does more harm than good," she said in a
post-election interview.

Statewide, 64 percent - nearly 2 million people - voted Tuesday to
change the marijuana law, a level that exceeded even President-elect
Barack Obama's support in the state. The measure won the support of a
majority of voters in every South Shore town except Braintree, where
52 percent voted against reducing the penalty.

The new law takes effect 30 days after being reported to the
Governor's Council in November or December. It makes possession of
under an ounce of marijuana punishable by a $100 civil fine. Those
caught will no longer be reported to the state's Criminal History Board.

Proponents said the broad support proves there is widespread belief -
not only among marijuana smokers - that criminal penalties for
personally using the drug are too harsh, and that people caught with
small amounts of marijuana are unfairly haunted later. The Committee
for Sensible Marijuana Policy, with about 500 volunteers, alone spent
$1 million to persuade voters.

"Police should focus on victim crimes," said John Leonard of Hingham,
a 51-year-old who acknowledged smoking marijuana on occasion.

Hanover High School Principal Thomas Raab said the impact of the vote
is dangerous, especially for young people who might interpret popular
support for decriminalization as proof that marijuana is harmless.

"It's a very poor message," Raab said.

Law enforcement officials say the vote marks a step back in the fight
against drugs.

"Will it exacerbate our drug problem? Yes," said Lt. John McDonough,
head of the Quincy Police Department's drug control unit.

District Attorney Keating said police will be hard-pressed to enforce
the new law as proposed. Without stricter identification laws, people
caught with marijuana could simply give an officer a fake name and
deny having identification.

"What are police going to do?" he said.

McDonough said his detectives are unlikely to issue the civil tickets
often to people caught with marijuana.

"They'll pop the top and pour it out," McDonough said. "It takes half
an hour to tag it as evidence. Why tie up the lab for something that's
not a crime?"

Bill Downing, president of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition, applauded the vote's outcome, saying current laws
disproportionately hurt minorities in low-income areas.

"Sure, if you're a suburban honkey, then yeah, they'll divert you,"
Downing said. "But if you're a black kid from a high-enforcement area,
you get a criminal record."

Decriminalization proponents say the state will save $30 million in
annual criminal justice costs.