Rival sides debate potential savings from Question 2

Massachusetts voters will decide if possession of marijuana should be decriminalized in the commonwealth Nov. 4 with Question 2 on the ballot.
Under current law, possession of any amount of marijuana can result in up to six months of jail time and a fine of up to $500, in addition to a permanent record for the offender.’ The new law would make possession of less than one ounce of marijuana punishable by a fine similar to that of a speeding ticket.
The Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy said the new law will save the state millions of dollars a year spent on marijuana law enforcement.
Harvard University economist Jeff Miron’ recently calculated that costs related to small amounts of marijuana total $30 million a year, Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy campaign manager Whitney Taylor said.
‘It is a waste of law enforcement resources and a waste of lives,’ she said.
But Jake Wark, the Suffolk County District Attorney General spokesman, said money spent enforcing marijuana laws will still be spent on law enforcement, so the decriminalization will not save the state any money.
‘We will be arraigning people whether it is on marijuana charges or not,’ Wark said. ‘Police do not get paid on the number of arrests they make.’
Before proposing the legislation in Massachusetts, the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy examined the 12 other states in the United States with decriminalization laws, Taylor said.
In Maine, which decriminalized marijuana in 1978, there is not a higher use of marijuana among youth, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
‘A decriminalized state is comparable to any other state,’ National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. ‘There is not higher usage and children don’t have greater access to marijuana.’
The Massachusetts attorney general and Massachusetts district attorneys are worried that decriminalization would send the message that using illegal substances is acceptable, according to the Say No to Question 2 website.’
‘Decriminalization will send a message to children and young adults that it is okay to use and abuse illegal substances,’ Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a September statement. ‘In addition, decriminalization may have a serious effect on the safety of our workplaces and our roadways.’
Wark said he believes decriminalization would only reverse what millions of dollars in drug awareness has done for students in Massachusetts.
‘Decriminalization more or less gives dealers a free pass, but does nothing to make communities and schools any safer,’ Wark said.
It is worth the money to protect the health and safety of young people, according to Students Against Destructive Decisions. SADD Chief Executive Officer Stephen Wallace said SADD does not support decriminalization in Massachusetts because it makes marijuana seem harmless.
‘It is not too far of a stretch that decriminalization will increase smoking in teens,’ he said.