Hello Cannabonauts! I bring good news from the frontlines of the legalization movement. According to an article by The Boston Herald, many persons fined in the Boston area for smoking marijuana are refusing to pay them!! In case you didn't know, last year Boston passed a law that decriminalized cannabis imposing a maximum of a $100 fine for posession or use. And now people are refusing to pay it! HA! Here is the link if you don't believe me. Pot law leaves cops high & dry - BostonHerald.com Today Boston, Tomorrow...the world.
Tomorrows headlines: "Boston's old Marijuana laws reinstated". I kinda like this, but I see it being turned on us. +rep
If the lawmakers start to see that fines aren't working then they are going to go back to lockin people up. I don't see this as a reason to celebrate. Still a cool thread though
we might get fucking owned cause of this.......theoretically they can reverse the law if they want to....granted if they did a vote again it probably wouldnt fly...but if they pull some unconstitutional shit it could be reversed...plus this just looks bad i guess, but at the same time its sweet
I definitely don't see a positive outcome to all of this, but i do applaud them for at least making some sort of effort for our side of the debate.
It's great to hear bostonians are sticking it to the man but I see how this can be bad for them. The same would apply to a drinking ticket though, so what is the big deal?
Yea i don't see much good coming out of this either, i completely support marijuana legalization but i also think decrim of the rest of drugs is the right answer, and this is just showing that we can't handle something like that in america I know that the case is different because many people believe that marijuana should be legalized, not just decriminalized, but still they did it in portugal and they can follow the decrim standards, why can't we seem to? This could go either way though - don't know how it will be received, if people will realize that decrim isn't enough and legalization is the way or that people will think that america isn't ready for something like that and use this as an example
Yeah, boo fucking hoo Boston, you don't need the 100 bucks. It was done to penalize, not to prevent or make money and you know it. Now shut up and stop bogarting the joint.
Lol, I like how they make it seem that if marijuana was illegal again then they could've done something about the suspected child molester. Whether weed is legal or not, sitting in your car with rope and NyQuil isn't a crime, and weed being illegal again wasn't going to make him more guilty for sexual assault lol. They were literally trying to make it seem that the entire town and surrounding area was being destroyed because weed was decriminalized, what a joke... Here's a rebuttal by a member of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/letters/view.bg?articleid=1186610
"Somerville Deputy Chief Paul Upton said his officers are now writing few if any citations, in part because enforcing the law costs more money than it’s worth." Finally, they're starting to understand.....
Whoa... Lets not start riots... That will only make them believe Cannabis causes violence in people.. Peace and love... We gotta fight this passive aggressively..
Man all of you guys are being total Debbie Downers. If you read the article you will see it is a cause for celebration. Because although these smokers are refusing to pay, which is illegal, there has been a benefit. Instead of a tougher police crackdown the article says that many police aren't even bothering to write the citations. The law is unenforceable, therefore the police are choosing not to enforce it. How is this not WIN?
yes dude i live in mass...if i ever get a citation im not paying shit haha and i know its a fact that ur dont have to give ur real name to the cop either lol...GO MASS!!! lol
I think that this has a positive effect on the movement... I mean, what is more productive, settling for decriminalization any paying the fines, or showing the police that it is not only unnecessary, but unacceptable to have anything less then the legalization of marijuana. This is a win for the movement.