Massachusetts police say they can not and will not enforce marijuana ban

Jolie77

Jolie77

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Police balk at ticketing marijuana offenders

Some towns say law unworkable.

Massachusetts officially decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana yesterday, but many police departments across the state were essentially ignoring the voter-passed law, saying they would not even bother to ticket people they see smoking marijuana.

'We're training our officers on it,' said Billerica's police chief, Daniel Rosa, 'and we will be enforcing it.'

"We're just basically not enforcing it right now," said Mark R. Laverdure, chief of police in Clinton, a Central Massachusetts town of about 8,000 residents, who said the law was so poorly written that it cannot be enforced. "You'll probably have a lot of officers that, unless there's a caller complaining about it, won't even bother with it. They probably handled a lot of it informally before and probably more so now."

Andrew J. Sluckis Jr., chief of police in Auburn, said his 39 officers would not be issuing $100 citations for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana, as required under the ballot initiative known as Question 2.

"If the Legislature enacts some changes, we'll be happy to do it in the future, but as it stands now we're not going to be issuing civil citations," he said. If an officer spots someone smoking marijuana, he said, "We will confiscate it and the person will be sent on their way."
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This article is 2 pages long. So, If you guys want to read the rest of this article; Here's the link --

Many police chiefs say they won't enforce new Mass. marijuana law - The Boston Globe
 
Not enforcing the civil statute achieves the same purpose as the voters intended. People not being charged with a criminal offense for small amounts of weed intended for personal use.

As far as the new statute encouraging drug use...that is absurd.
 
cool. it's about time. this silly drug enforcement puts a tremendous strain on budget and manpower and this should put some ease on prison population
 
it is nice to know that voter do it! because it based on what accepted they are .. so they are allowed.. that good.. that will reduce crime rate.. hopeful!
 
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