Pubdate: Thu, 10 Mar 2005
Source: Massachusetts Daily Collegian (MA Edu)
Copyright: 2005 Daily Collegian
Contact: 413-545-1592
Website: http://www.DailyCollegian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1401
Author: Justin Sawyer
Note: Publication of University of Massachusetts
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA

This Is A Call For Help. This Is A Call To Action.

The students at UMASS are in a privileged position, a place that
confers to us enormous political power. No where else in Massachusetts
is there such a high concentration and such a large number of people
from all over the state in one place.

We have students from every single legislative district in
Massachusetts, constituents of every representative in the state
government. We could be the megaphone of political change in the state
if we wanted to be, but what would we say? What issue could be big
enough to unite most of the student body, grads and undergrads,
together in solidarity to work for change?

I can think of more than a few, but I'll just give you one:
nonsensical drug laws that overcrowd prisons, arrest and give criminal
records to honest decent people, and cost us taxpayers disgusting
amounts of money to enforce laws that most of us think should be at
the very least drastically altered.

So what are we going to do about it? I mean, we can't just make
marijuana legal, right?

The answer is maybe not right away, but we can get on that path and we
can start by decriminalizing it. This means that a person cannot be
arrested, jailed, and receive a criminal record from minor possession
for the drug (less than one ounce) but only fined.

In the elections last November, all 12 Massachusetts counties that had
nonbinding ballot questions about decriminalizing marijuana passed,
many by wide margins. The Cannabis Reform Coalition is a politically
active RSO here at UMass and the oldest college-based group working to
reform drug laws in the entire country. We're working with the
Partnership for Responsible Drug Information to pass a marijuana
decriminalization bill in the state legislature that would have the
effects I described above, regardless of reason for use of the drug,
and we are closer than anyone has ever been to getting this bill
passed in the state within the next year and a half. We believe this
is a noble cause and it cannot be achieved without the support of all
of you reading this right now. Please, take action and stand up for
your rights as citizens.

For more information, come to the CRC Office rm. 322 in the Student
Union, and help us make a difference.

Justin Sawyer

UMASS Cannabis Reform Coalition