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MA: Marijuana Law Comes With Challenges

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

December 18, 2008 Marijuana Law Comes With Challenges By ABBY GOODNOUGH NY Times BOSTON ? Last month, voters approved a statewide measure decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Now, wary authorities say, comes the hard part. They are scrambling to set up a new system of civil penalties before Jan. 2, when the change becomes law. From then on, anyone caught with an ounce or less of marijuana will owe a $100 civil fine instead of ending up with an arrest record and possibly facing jail time. It sounds simple, but David Capeless, president of the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, said the new policy presented a thicket of questions and complications. One of the most basic, Mr. Capeless said, is who will collect the fines and enforce other provisions of the law...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).