DPFMA asserts that adults who possess marijuana for personal use should be fined and juveniles who possess personal use amounts should have their parents or legal guardian notified and pay a fine, rather than receive a criminal conviction and record.

History

• Over the past decade, there have been renewed efforts in favor of marijuana reform. Policy changes in the United Kingdom, Canada and the majority of Western Europe have placed increasing pressure on the U.S. to rethink its approach to marijuana.
• 12 states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon -- have enacted versions of marijuana decriminalization.
• Current Massachusetts law establishes a penalty schedule for marijuana possession:
• • • First Offense: Probation
      Subsequent Offense(s): 0-6 months imprisonment; $500 fine. Possible probation.
    • Marijuana possession, can automatically trigger a mandatory prison sentence of at least two years if the offense is committed within 1,000 feet of a school, playground or library -- which is virtually everywhere in a city.
• In the 2003-2004 legislature Senate Bill 207 sponsored by Senator Charles Shannon (D-Second Middlesex), Senator Cynthia Creem (D-First Middlesex and Norfolk), Senator Joan Menard (D-First Bristol and Plymouth), Senator Steven Tolman (D-Second Suffolk and Middlesex), and Senator Stanley Rosenberg (D-Hampshire and Franklin) and H.2392 sponsored by Representative Patricia Jehlen (D-Somerville) would create a civil fine penalty for marijuana possession.
• In the 2000, 2002 and 2004 elections Massachusetts overwhelmingly passed public policy questions (PPQs) on marijuana decriminalization in 29 districts with an average of 61% of the voters in favor of fines for adults in possession of personal amounts of marijuana

View PPQ Results

DPFMA Goals

The Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts is working with citizens of the state to end the criminalization of marijuana so that while marijuana would still be illegal, a person arrested for personal use would face a fine rather than a criminal conviction and record.

• In the 2005-2006 legislature S.1151 sponsored by the late Senator Charles Shannon would creat civil fines for personal possession of marijuana for adults.
• DPFMA also supports H.862 a marijuana decriminalization bill sponsored by Representative Patricia Jehlen.

Resources

View DPFMA’s Fact Sheet on Marijuana Decriminalization

View DPFMA’s Summary on S.1151 & H.862

View DPFMA’s Testimony on S.1151

Other organizations that work on Marijuana Decriminalization

Research on Marijuana Decriminalization