LEGALIZING OF MARIJUANA USE MAY HEAD TO BALLOT

BOSTON -- The debate over decriminalizing marijuana and legalizing its
medical use may be heading to the ballot in a handful of MetroWest
communities this fall.

A pair of advocacy groups have sponsored several nonbinding "public policy
questions" about the state's marijuana laws for the Nov. 2 ballot. Two of
the questions ask voters in two state Senate districts and five House
districts if they support making marijuana possession a civil violation
instead of a crime.

Voters represented by state Rep. James Vallee, D-Franklin, and state Sen.
Richard Moore, D-Uxbridge, are among those who would be asked whether the
state should decriminalize the drug.

A third question, meanwhile, asks voters in four House districts if
"seriously ill patients" should be allowed to grow and possess marijuana
for medicinal purposes.

State Rep. Harold Naughton, a Clinton Democrat whose district includes
Northborough, is one of the four House lawmakers whose constituents would
be polled on medicinal marijuana.

Whitney Taylor, executive director of the Drug Policy Forum of
Massachusetts, said a clear majority of voters have supported similar
ballot questions in the last two election cycles, dating back to 2000.

"This isn't polling of likely voters. This is exactly what the voters
think," she said. "It's just an amazing way to get a feel for what the
people of the commonwealth think about these issues."

Taylor's group, working closely with the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition, targeted House and Senate seats held by lawmakers who chair
committees that hear marijuana-related legislation.

Vallee, for instance, serves as House chairman of the Criminal Justice
Committee, while Moore serves as Senate chairman of the Health Care
Committee.

Neither legislator, however, appears likely to embrace the proposed
reforms. Several bills that deal with decriminalizing marijuana or
legalizing it for medical use have been bottled up in both lawmakers'
committees this year.

"We haven't seen any scientific medical evidence that marijuana itself has
medical value," Moore said. "I don't think I'm inclined to support bills
that are in violation of the (federal) law (governing marijuana)."

Vallee said he is opposed to decriminalizing marijuana.

"I just think it sends the wrong message to young people when we're already
struggling to control the drug problem in our communities," he said. But
Vallee said he would be "interested to see how my constituents feel."

"It's certainly a debate worth having, and I'll try to keep as open a mind
as possible...but the votes (in the Legislature) are overwhelmingly not
there," he said.

Today is the deadline for the questions' sponsors to file signatures with
the Secretary of State William Galvin's office.

Taylor and Steven Epstein, spokesman for the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform
Coalition, said both groups have filed the signatures they need to get
their questions on the ballot.

Once the signatures are certified, Attorney General Thomas Reilly's office
must decide if the initiatives pose a legitimate question about public
policy.

Mass Cann wants to ask voters in Vallee's district whether he should
"introduce and vote for legislation making possession of marijuana a civil
violation like a traffic ticket, and requiring police to hold a person
under the age of 18 cited for possession until released to a parent, legal
guardian or brought before a judge."

Epstein said the state spends an estimated $25 million annually to arrest
and prosecute adults for marijuana possession.

"Twenty-five million dollars buys a lot of school teachers," he said. "The
time has come for Massachusetts, a so-called 'liberal' state, to
decriminalize marijuana."

Taylor's group poses a slightly different question to Naughton's
constituents, asking whether he should "vote in favor of legislation that
would make possession of less than one ounce of marijuana a civil violation,
subject to a maximum fine of $100 and not subject to any criminal
penalties."

Naughton, a former prosecutor, said he "probably" would not support the
initiative.

"The problem is that it minimizes the use of a narcotic drug, even if it's
less than an ounce," he said.

Although Naughton said he supports the concept of legalizing marijuana for
medical uses, he did not support a plan to do that when it reached the
House floor about seven years ago.

"They hadn't worked out where the supply was coming from," he said. "I
don't know why it lost steam after that because the concept is very good."

Meanwhile, voters in Moore's district would be asked if he should "vote in
favor of legislation that would allow seriously ill patients, with their
doctor's written recommendation, to possess and grow small amounts of
marijuana for their personal medical use."

Taylor said she has a personal stake in the latter question. Her late
stepfather used marijuana to ease his suffering before he succumbed to
cancer.

"Not only did it improve his quality of life, but I know it also saved some
of my grandmother's sanity," she said.

Vallee represents Franklin and part of Medway. Moore's Worcester and
Norfolk senatorial district includes Bellingham, Blackstone, Hopedale,
Mendon, Milford and Northbridge.

This would not be the first time that MetroWest voters have weighed in on
the issue.

In 2000, 67 percent of 14,192 voters represented by state Rep. Deborah
Blumer, D-Framingham, said they support repealing all of the criminal
penalties associated with marijuana possession and making it a civil
violation, punishable by a fine of up to $100.

Boston University Professor Jeffrey Miron, author of the newly published
"Drug War Crimes," said legalizing marijuana for medical uses is an "easier
sell" than decriminalizing the drug.

"A lot of the politicians I've spoken to are privately sympathetic," Miron
said, "but they say, 'It's a non-starter for us politically, so it's not
going to happen.'"