Chiefs to ignore new pot law

January 3, 4:58 PMBoston Young Democrats ExaminerDan McDowell

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Some police chiefs have come straight out and said they will not enforce the new voter initiated marijuana posssesion law. The law is supposedly 'unworkable' because those caught smoking do not have to give identification to police officers, and there is no way to enforce the fine. Therefore, rather than show the law needs to be adapted by giving out the fines, these officers have decided to simply ignore the infraction and hope the legislature realizes the law needs to be tweaked on its own.

I'm all for legalization, don't get me wrong. But I also think when voters enact a law you should certainly enforce it, if only to show their are trouble spots the legislature needs to fix after the original law is put into effect. Besides, why give up any shot at additional revenue for the state? When a system is eventually put into effect to handle the citations and address identification issues,  the law will be a revenue generator. The citations are necessary to show the state is serious about the law, whether it is workable yet or not is irrelevant. Not enforcing it until a system is in place just gives people a nasty surprise when our legislature addresses and (hopefully) fixes the problems. Show people the law will be taken seriously, and they'll just be grateful for the little time they were able to get away without an enforceable fine. Man power shouldn't have been all that obsessed with catching people with pot to begin with, nor should it be now. But when an officer comes across an individual in possession, they need to show voters they will accept and enforce their initiatives.

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