MARIJUANA QUESTIONS ON SEVERAL LOCAL BALLOTS

Nonbinding Proposals Aim to Ease Penalties

Drug reform activists, convinced that law enforcement resources would
be better spent on other crimes, will ask voters in several area
communities this fall to weigh in on reducing penalties for marijuana
possession. Proponents of the change have succeeded in getting a
series of nonbinding questions -- meant to gauge public opinion -- on
ballots this November in communities across Greater Boston. In
Bellingham and Milford, voters will consider the legality of
medicinal marijuana -- allowing seriously ill patients to grow the
drug for medical use. In Boylston, Northborough, Franklin, and parts
of Medway, voters will weigh in on whether the penalty for possession
should be reduced from a criminal charge to a civil violation subject
to a fine. According to state law, first-time marijuana offenders are
typically placed on probation, but the law also allows for
imprisonment and fines for possession. Opponents of relaxing the
rules say marijuana use is often the first step toward drug addiction
and see no point in amending current policies, but supporters of the
change say it's a waste of money to prosecute low-level possession
offenses.

"Let's save our scarce law enforcement dollars for more serious
crimes," said Whitney Taylor, executive director of the Drug Policy
Forum of Massachusetts, an organization that supports the use of
marijuana for medical purposes, a treatment that Taylor said helped
ease her stepfather's discomfort when he became terminally ill.

This year's ballot questions, which are slated to appear in 11
legislative districts and are cosponsored by the Massachusetts
Cannabis Reform Coalition, follow similar initiatives in 2000 and
2002. Both years, according to the Drug Policy Forum, which has helped
push formal legislative efforts to reform laws, the measures passed
in every district; in 2000, voters in the 6th Middlesex House
district in Framingham supported reducing the penalties for possession.

Advocates of the changes say they hope to use voter sentiment this
year as part of their effort to persuade legislators to change state
law. But despite what seems like growing public support for relaxing
marijuana laws, some lawmakers remain unconvinced.

State Representative James Vallee, a Franklin Democrat who cochairs
the Legislature's Joint Committee on Criminal Justice, said previous
legislation to reduce penalties for marijuana possession garnered no
support from members of his committee.

Vallee said he worries that efforts to decriminalize marijuana could
lead to a similar push for other substances. He said drugs are a
significant problem that warrants more than penalties akin to a
traffic ticket. "No one's given me any reason why we should
decriminalize marijuana," Vallee said. "I just don't see any
significant reason why we should." Vallee said he was uncertain
whether his stance would change, if voters in his district end up
supporting the changes.

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," he said. State
Representative Harold Naughton, a Clinton Democrat whose district
includes Boylston and Northborough, said he was concerned that
marijuana is a "gateway drug" that could lead to more serious drug
use. He said, however, that the ballot questions could lead to
valuable discussions about incarceration for drug offenses and treatment.

But some local legislators have already registered their support of
drug policy reform.

State senators Cynthia Stone Creem, a Newton Democrat, and Steven
Tolman, a Brighton Democrat whose district includes Watertown,
supported a bill in the last legislative session penalizing first-time
possession of less than an ounce of marijuana with a fine of $100.
Creem said money saved on public safety could be used to bolster
treatment programs.

"We're not looking ahead at how we spend our money," she said. Ten
states have legalized the medical use of marijuana, according to the
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. But in 2001,
the US Supreme Court ruled that people who supply marijuana to
patients are not protected from prosecution.

US Representative Barney Frank, a Democrat of Newton, has cosponsored
legislation that would allow doctors in states that have legalized
medicinal marijuana to prescribe the drug and allow those states to
designate legal sources of marijuana.

As far as the Bush administration is concerned, Scott Burns, deputy
director of the White House Drug Policy Office, said marijuana has
grown more potent over the past 30 years, and more young people are
in treatment for marijuana use than any other drug.

He said his office wants children to see drug users face serious
consequences.

Supporters of drug policy reform say they have to fight perceptions
that they are part of the cause for self-serving reasons - namely
that they want to smoke with impunity.

Yakov Kronrod, a 23-year-old Worcester resident, said he does not
smoke but became involved in the issue after a college friend was
caught with marijuana and lost his federal financial aid.

Taylor believes the ballot questions will help give a voice to those
with similar perspectives.

"You can get a true feeling of what [voters] feel," she
said.