Title:
Mass.: Support keeping marijuana decrim intact
Message:
Back in 2008, an MPP-backed campaign advocated in support
of, and eventually passed, a ballot measure that replaced the old criminal
penalty for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana with a more sensible
civil violation. The 65% of Massachusetts’s voters who supported marijuana decriminalization
knew what has since proven true: there haven’t been negative consequences to
social health or safety tied to the reform.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts’s voters appear to be ahead of
some of their elected officials. Rep. Todd Smola (R – Palmer) introduced a bill
– HB 507 – that
would, among other things, recriminalize marijuana possession in a school or
park zone. His proposed penalty for possessing a controlled substance –
including marijuana – within 1,000 feet of a school or 100 feet of a park would
be at least two and a half, and up to 15,
years in prison! Please
email your senator and representative and ask them to oppose this draconian
and anti-democratic measure.
The Joint Judiciary
Committee recently took testimony on this unconscionable roll back of the will
of the people. Make
sure your elected officials know that Massachusetts’s voters support sensible
marijuana policy, not heavy-handed sentences.
