VOTERS SUPPORT BALLOT QUESTIONS ON MARIJUANA

Area voters supported two nonbinding ballot questions instructing
their legislators to support medical marijuana for ill patients and to
decriminalize marijuana possession.

Voters represented by state Rep. James Vallee, D-Franklin, approved a
proposal to make marijuana possession a civil violation, like a
traffic ticket, instead of a criminal offense.

The measure passed 57 percent to 37 percent in Franklin and Precincts
2, 3 and 4 in Medway. It had more support in Medway, 60 percent of
voters, than in Franklin, which had 56 percent.

In the second question, posed to those represented by state Sen.
Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, voters supported allowing terminally ill
patients to possess and grow marijuana for medical use with a doctor's
permission.

Seven of eight area communities in Moore's district passed the
measure, 63 percent to 28 percent. Uxbridge results were not available
at press time.

Among the communities, Bellingham voters approved the question by the
widest margin, 66 percent to 26 percent. With 61 percent, Northbridge
voters passed the question by the smallest margin.

Two state advocacy groups, the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts and
the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, sponsored the questions.

The groups targeted districts represented by lawmakers leading
committees that often see marijuana-related legislation. Vallee is
House chairman of the Criminal Justice Committee, for example, while
Moore is Senate chairman of the Health Care Committee.

Because the ballot questions are nonbinding, neither legislator has to
vote in favor of the proposals. Both Vallee and Moore have said they
would not support such legislation.

Across the state, four other House districts advocated medical
marijuana, while six favored some form of marijuana decriminalization.