Pubdate: Mon, 11 Jun 2012
Source: Orange County Register, The (CA)
Copyright: 2012 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.ocregister.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/321
Author: David Klepper

MARIJUANA POLICY SHOWING UP ON MORE STATES' AGENDAS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Catharine Leach is married and has two boys, age 2 
and 8. She has a good job with a federal contractor and smokes pot 
most every day.

While she worries that her public support for marijuana 
decriminalization and legalization could cost her a job or bring the 
police to her door, the 30-year-old Warwick resident said she was 
tired of feeling like a criminal. Like others around the nation 
working to relax penalties for possession of pot, she decided to stop 
hiding and speak out.

"I'm done being afraid," she said. "People in this country are 
finally coming around and seeing that putting someone in jail for 
this doesn't make sense. It's just a changing of the time."

Marijuana policy is appearing on legislative agendas around the 
country due to an energized base of supporters and an increasingly 
open-minded public. Lawmakers from Rhode Island to Colorado are 
mulling medical marijuana programs, pot dispensaries, 
decriminalization and even legalization. Seventeen states and the 
District of Columbia now authorize medical marijuana and 14, 
including neighboring Connecticut and Massachusetts, have rolled back 
criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of pot.

Rhode Island is poised to become the 15th state to decriminalize 
marijuana possession. The state's General Assembly passed legislation 
last week that would eliminate the threat of big fines or even jail 
time for the possession of an ounce or less of pot. Instead, adults 
caught with small amounts of marijuana would face a $150 civil fine. 
Police would confiscate the marijuana, but the incident would not 
appear on a person's criminal record.

Minors caught with pot would also have to complete a drug awareness 
program and community service.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee has said he is inclined to sign the legislation.

"America's 50-year war on drugs has been an abysmal failure," said 
state Rep. John Savage, a retired school principal from East 
Providence. "Marijuana in this country should be legalized. It should 
be sold and taxed."

Opponents warned of dire consequences to the new policy.

"What kind of message are we sending to our youth? We are more 
worried about soda  for health reasons  than we are about marijuana," 
said Rhode Island state Rep. John Carnevale, a Democrat from Providence.
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