Massachusetts' Marijuana Law Cannot Be Enforced

I can't blame the police who say they won't give out tickets. Before we voted on November 4, 2008 possession of small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts was a criminal offense. Those in possession (without any intent to sell) could go to jail for six months and would get a fine of as much as $500.

The ballot question I am talking about was asked of Massachusetts's residents on November 4, 2008. It asked if we wanted to decriminalize an ounce of marijuana or less. We spoke out loud and clear with 65% of us saying yes. The new law officially became law on January 3, 2009. Having less than an ounce of pot is a civil rather than criminal violation. There will be no criminal record and one could perhaps have a fine of $100.

The reason that many voted for this law seems to be a matter of practical reasons. The police have a whole lot to do in Massachusetts. Having to arrest, go to court, convict and all else that went with someone smoking one joint was more severe than we thought the penalties warranted. In addition we thought the police have better things to do with their time than spend it arresting someone for smoking a joint when people are driving drunk and killing each other. The new law is ridiculous and just as time consuming. It seems that the new law itself is becoming more time consuming than the law that was on the books!

It seems some police have some problems with the new law.. For one thing they don't have any way of knowing who it is they are punishing. The most Police Officers really can do is tell someone to stop smoking pot. The smoker cannot be threatened with being arrested and police cannot arrest people if they refuse to give their name. Officers cannot force the smoker to show identification.

It seems some police department say they will enforce the new decriminalized law while others say it is just too confusing and they are not going to have their officers wasting their time.

Some police chiefs are coming right out and saying that their officers would not be giving out $100 fines for someone who has an ounce or less of marijuana which was what question number 2 on our ballots required.

Some officer may take the marijuana away from someone although I don't know how an officer can do that if the person is smoking and the joint is in his or her mouth. Can an officer actually physically take it out of the person's mouth? It seems unlikely that an officer would bother. I think looking the other way is what this will be all about.

Police departments across the state are spending more time figuring out how to deal with this unenforceable law such as taking a picture of the offender to be able to identify the non criminal to give him or her a ticket for maybe $100.

It seems to me that if this law was decimalized then let it be. Let our police officers do what they have been trained to do and that's catch the bad guys. Certainly someone holding an ounce or less of marijuana cannot be judged a bad guy and although I'm not presenting it here I will swear to the day I die that heroine use is not the culmination of smoking a little pot.