Lit_Match

Police scramble to codify new marijuana bust procedures
01-08-09|Clinton Times & Courier|By Shaun Moriarty

Advice about marijuana in Massachusetts is pouring in from the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the district attorney’s office, the state Executive Office of Public Safety, and several other agencies and groups.

“I’ve received so much information that it takes awhile to digest it,” said Lancaster Police Chief Kevin Lamb. “It’s going to be a learning process for everyone.”

Voters elected last November to remove the criminal penalty for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. Since the law went into effect Jan. 1, offenders are now subject to a civil fine. That fine, like a parking ticket, can be appealed in court.

Lamb said last week that he still has questions and concerns over the new law.

“There’s going to be problems if you issue a $100 ticket and they don’t pay it. Who is going to chase them around for it?” he said. “There are all kinds of issues that are going to come up in the next few months.”

Lamb also referenced a hypothetical situation in which one of his officers could sit in a police cruiser, smoking a joint, and the only thing the chief could do is have a citation issued. No further disciplinary action could be taken because the new law classifies the possession of less than one ounce as a civil offense. Conversely, Lamb noted, an officer could be fired if found smoking a regular cigarette in that same cruiser.
“That just doesn’t make sense,” Lamb said.

Clinton Police Chief Mark Laverdure could not be reached for comment last week.

For the first time, police will have to measure the quantity of the drug before determining whether to arrest a marijuana smoker.

“[Whether] officers carry scales around with them, this is a determination that is going to be made,” Lamb said. “We have a scale here in the station.”

New scales or any other devices that need to be purchased, as well as any training, to enforce the new law, including citation booklets, lead to new costs and expenditures in the department’s budget.

Schools still drug-free

Nashoba Regional School Superintendent Michael Wood, however, does not expect the new law to have much impact within the schools.

“We’ll stick to our rules,” Wood said. “We’re going to continue with our current rules pertaining to drug possession.”

Those rules currently proscribe a suspension for students caught with any drugs.

“If they had marijuana on them, that would be a suspension for some period of time, up to 10 days,” Wood said. “We try to address things as a school, and let law officials do what they need to do.”

Lamb and Wood said their offices have not corresponded with one another about the new law, although Wood suggested a conversation may happen in “the near future.”

Wood, who has been reading local newspapers in an attempt to “get a handle” on how the new law will effect communities and schools, said he believes there’s been misinformation or misunderstanding of what the law does.

“I think there will be some sort of event that somebody will be trying to suggest it is no longer illegal, or it’s not a felony, to have the marijuana on them. We may have that kind of pushback, but again, school rules and law are not necessarily the same thing,” said Wood. “I don’t think they’ll try to test it, but whomever is the first one to be caught might decide to put this on the table and say, ‘This is no longer a felony, you can’t touch me.’”
He added: “We’re not the court. We’re the schools.”

Both officials said they do not see a prominent drug problem in town, but they know drug use in Lancaster and Nashoba exists.
“I know it’s out there,” said Lamb.

Lamb, who opposed the law when it was Question No. 2 on the November ballot, said he was “disappointed” when it passed. While he said it is not the case for everyone who tries marijuana, his experience has shown that it can be a gateway drug that leads to more severe drug use.

“There’s been evidence, and I’ve heard it in court, that it’s a drug that leads you into more,” Lamb said.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)