Marijuana is not a big problem

Officer Rotondi is a thunderer. Marijuana has not been proven to cause the myriad of harms he writes it may cause; nor has its use begun at earlier ages than in the past; nor is marijuana's use inexorably followed by use of other illicit drugs, until the individual moves on to madness. Far and away the worst thing that happens to most adolescent marijuana users is that they are caught by the police and given permanent criminal records.

Since 2000, over 63 percent of the voters in 25 house and three senate districts around the state have instructed their political representative to reform the marijuana laws by making possession of marijuana a civil violation, subject only to a fine. In five of these house districts and two of the senate districts, no per se weight nor amount of the fine was stated, but voters favored requiring police to hold a person under 18 cited for possession until the person is released to a parent or legal guardian or brought before a judge.

The majority of voters realize parents are the best protection against adolescent drug abuse. The majority recognize it is time we stopped handcuffing people for marijuana possession. They know it will conserve police and other public resources. The yes votes are calls for a return to the common law of arrest when the offense is marijuana possession, which by only the greatest stretch of the imagination can be considered by itself to be a breach of the peace.

Thunderers fail to see that current law reduces neither supply nor demand. Anyone who wants marijuana can get it. According to U.S. government surveys, about 50 percent of adults have tried marijuana at least once, most never tried any other illicit drug. Almost all are good people. Some are politicians.

Editor's note: Epstein is an attorney and spokesman for Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition/NORMAL