THE PASSAGE of an ill-considered 2008 state ballot question decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana has proved to be disorienting for the legal system. The latest example is a ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court that the odor of marijuana emanating from a parked vehicle is not sufficient cause for further police investigation. It's a harmful ruling that can and should be remedied by the Legislature.

By a 5-1 vote, the state's highest court recently upheld a district court's ruling that police officers lacked the authority to order suspects out of a parked passenger vehicle based on the odor of pot. The court concluded that Boston police officers had no evidence that the suspects possessed a criminal amount of marijuana and erred by "ferreting out decriminalized conduct with the same fervor associated with the pursuit of serious criminal conduct." Possession of under one ounce of marijuana in Massachusetts is just a civil offense punishable by a $100 fine.

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Your editorial demonstrates an author suffering "reefer madness," an illness that causes the sufferer to forget the principles of the Constitution ("Wacky weed indeed," April 21).

The Supreme Judicial Court implies that police may give the operator a citation for possession based upon the odor. It also noted the record, contrary to the lone dissenting justice's conclusion, did not support ordering the operator out of the vehicle on suspicion of operating under the influence.

On the latter point, I note that driving after consumption of marijuana is inappropriate. However, the science comparing impairment by consumption of marijuana to alcohol establishes marijuana is safer.

Steven S. Epstein, Georgetown

The writer is among the authors of the friend of the court brief submitted by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

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Chalk it up to the Law of Unintended Consequence.

Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question back in 2008 that made possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a civil, rather than a criminal offense. Most people who voted in favor of the question did so because they believed that young people should not have to carry around for the rest of their days a criminal record for possession of marijuana for their own use. It seemed reasonable at the time.

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Panelists discussing drug violence along the U.S.-Mexico border said that the corruption of government officials on both sides of the border is a major problem facing the fight against cartels, during a forum at the Institute of Politics yesterday.

"[Cartels] corrupt to create permissive environments in which they can operate and get away with anything from murder to mass murder," said Michael Braun, the former chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. "They corrupt, they intimidate and they resort to extreme violence when the other two don't work."

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Odor Not Enough to Suspect Crime

Law enforcement officials are concerned that marijuana busts, and their ability to arrest people for driving under the influence of drugs, will go up in smoke after the state's highest court ruled this week that the odor of burnt marijuana does not give police enough suspicion to order someone from a car.

Defense lawyers, however, argue the state Supreme Judicial Court got it right, considering the passage of a 2008 state ballot question decriminalizing possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

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Well, the chickens of that 2008 ballot law decriminalizing marijuana possession have definitely come home to roost.

The Supreme Judicial Court this week ruled that the odor of burnt marijuana is no longer enough to allow police to order people out of their car -- not since the people of this commonwealth in their infinite wisdom voted in favor of Question 2.

The fine fellow in the case before the court -- one Benjamin Cruz -- was also in possession of about 4 grams of crack cocaine, enough to be charged with intent to distribute (and in a school zone too). But that evidence was tossed by the trial court judge -- a ruling now affirmed by the state's highest court.

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This past Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to the annual celebration known as "Extravaganja," an event organized by the University of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. As in past years, the event showcased local musicians, guest speakers and vendors in the Amherst town common. In the rain on Saturday and the sunshine on Sunday, an enormous crowd formed to show their support of the CRC's views on marijuana legality and to smoke without worry.

The featured speaker at Extravaganja was John Sinclair, who became famous after being arrested in 1969 for attempting to sell two joints to undercover policemen and was sentenced to ten years in prison. His official website explains that "Sinclair was released from Jackson Prison when the 29-month campaign to gain his freedom climaxed in the mammoth 'John Sinclair Freedom Rally' at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 10, 1971, where John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Stevie Wonder, Allen Ginsberg, Phil Ochs, Bobby Seale and others performed and spoke at the eight-hour long event in front of 15 thousand people."

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To the editor: Re: "Lot spent to stop pot" (April 10):

The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2009, there were 858,405 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession.

At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The end result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use.

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To the editor: Ned Bristol's column, "A lot spent to stop pot," describes the wastefulness of marijuana prohibition and the profit incentive it provides to black marketers. However, his description of the Obama administration's position on medical use is inaccurate.

If the Obama Administration were sympathetic to those who benefit from medicinal use, it would remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substance Act or at least grant U-Mass Professor Lyle Craker's application to grow marijuana to supply research programs, such as Massachusetts' 19-year-old "Therapeutic Research Act."

Steven Epstein, Georgetown

THE AUTHOR is a founder and officer of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.

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The DA's office spared no expense in the drug investigation. "Operation Night Out" included wire-tapping, aerial reconnaissance and managing an informant on the inside.

The investigation was started by state police detectives in the office of Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter but then mushroomed. Sutter brought in the State Police Special Services Operations unit, federal authorities from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, a Rhode Island drug task force staffed by multiple agencies, and additional Massachusetts state police from the Plymouth County district attorney's office. Since this investigation focused on a couple of businesses in North Attleboro, local police also had a role to play.

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The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate on Sunday passed a resolution that called for Tufts' disciplinary policy on marijuana usage to mirror recent changes to Massachusetts' drug laws. Drafted in part by members of the student organization Tufts Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), the resolution seeks to mitigate the university's penalty for being caught with marijuana.

The TCU Senate declared that the punishment for being caught with one ounce or less of marijuana should match the penalties of the Commonwealth, which currently treats the offense as a civil offense punishable by a small fine. While the Daily supports the fundamental argument made by SSDP and the Senate, we recognize that, in practice, Tufts is already ahead of the curve.

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Proposed medical marijuana legislation will not "lead to greater access for the average pot smoker," as Herald editors claim ("Reefer madness," March 7). Some say recreational users in California have increased access to medical marijuana. By including a restrictive list of conditions and requiring that the state verify the legitimacy of such recommendations it is doubtful that recreational users will find more access here. Instead, the system will help people like me: a middle aged single mom who suffers from the aftereffects of a stroke and fibromyalgia. As long as a doctor approves, I shouldn't be forced to look for medicine on the street from criminals

Karen Hawkes, Rowley

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The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate on Sunday passed a resolution calling on the university to follow the lead of the state in assigning relatively weaker penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana.

Two members of Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and a freshman senator submitted the resolution, which advocated eliminating disciplinary action for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana. The resolution passed in a vote of 16 11 with two abstentions.

The measure is an effort to align Tufts' marijuana policy with Massachusetts state law, according to freshman Lauren Traitz, one of the two SSDP members who submitted the resolution. A successful 2008 ballot question decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of marijuana.

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Adults in Massachusetts are forbidden from buying certain over-the-counter decongestants without first showing identification and having it logged by the pharmacy. But suddenly this state is capable of running a full-scale medical marijuana operation safely, and its citizens can be trusted to use the drug responsibly?

For pete's sake, where are the nanny staters when we really need them?

A bill pending on Beacon Hill would allow sick people to obtain prescriptions for marijuana and set up 18 distribution centers across Massachusetts, so that cancer sufferers and others whose pain might be managed by smoking pot would have easy access to the drug.

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When Gov. Bill Weld signed the Therapeutic Research Act in 1992, Massachusetts was the first state to recognize medical use since imposition of the federal prohibition. Unlike the more recent laws, it requires a federally approved source. It is a cruel joke because the federal government refuses to approve a supplier.

After years of reefer madness, medicalization made sense in 1992. Now it makes sense to allow all adults to possess and grow it for their personal use and gift it to other adults. When Congress passes the equivalent of the 21st Amendment for marijuana, the state can then regulate and tax it as we do alcohol ("Pressure grows to legalize medical pot," March 1).

Steven S. Epstein, Georgetown

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For the time being, folks in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island can consider last November's defeat of Proposition 19, a California ballot initiative to legalize and regulate the personal use of marijuana, as none of their business. But as this debate spreads outward from California it will, sooner or later, reach Massachusetts, Rhode Island and the rest of New England.

Having started the war on marijuana, the federal government is the enforcer of the status quo -- even as opinion polls show the public's desire for change. So, it is up to the states, one-by-one, to replace failed drug war policies with something that makes sense. To see how the future marijuana legalization debate might spread, let's consider the work of professor Everett M. Rogers.

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18 Distribution Centers Eyed in Bay State

Pot "Wal-Marts" like those planned for California and other states could throw open their doors in the Bay State, as momentum builds for the legalization of medical marijuana.

Two years after Massachusetts decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot, a bill pending on Beacon Hill would allow prescriptions for medical marijuana and set up 18 distribution centers across Massachusetts.

"Since the 1930s, we've been fighting marijuana as the killer weed, and that has to stop," said state Rep. Frank I. Smizik, a Brookline Democrat championing the bipartisan bill. "There are so many people suffering with serious diseases where marijuana is the only way to stop the pain and keep them going."

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William Breault, chairman of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety, is a hard-core activist, a steamroller, a man who likes to Bogart every community health and safety issue.

He is homegrown - born on Bell Hill, raised in Main South, he graduated from South High Community School and worked in the maintenance department at the College of the Holy Cross for 34 years.

He has stood as a vanguard to combat the decline in his neighborhood, working tirelessly and passionately to make it a decent and safe place to live, and he has had some success.

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There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization, such as the 2008 ballot initiative approved by Massachusetts voters, acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

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There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization, such as the 2008 ballot initiative approved by Massachusetts voters, acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls.

Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

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