Stoners revolt in Mass

The limits of a new Massachusetts decriminalization law are being tested.

Thumbing their noses at the state’s lax new pot law, Bay State stoners are brazenly lighting up in front of cops and then refusing to pay fines - leading some frustrated police chiefs to all but give up the fight.
Local police report widespread defiance of the six-month-old law, and a Herald review shows a vast majority of potheads cited by cops blowing off their $100 fines.
Some egregious examples of tokers flaunting the law include:

In Arlington, a public works employee was cited by the local police chief for smoking a pot pipe as he stood next to his town-issued tractor.

At bustling Park Street Station, a pair of nonchalant lovers out on the town openly lit up a joint and continued toking even after confronted by off-duty Milton Chief Richard Wells.

In East Boston, four teens spotted in a “smoke-filled vehicle” unabashedly told a cop they were “just smoking marijuana.”

A man caught near a Dorchester playground laughed when police said he faced a $100 fine - and then taunted the cops with an expletive-laced tirade.
All told, a staggering 83 percent of 415 tokers cited in Boston since the law took effect in January have refused to pony up the $100, a Herald review shows.

» more at: www.bostonherald.com

Posted By gwyllm at 2009-07-27 18:19:35 permalink | comments

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dreamdust. : 2009-08-02 01:28:03

I will not sacrifice what is right for what is clever. I hold my ideals higher than that.

I also seriously doubt if being clever ever won us much ground. Clever behavior, clever arguments, these things haven't gotten us much. Gonzales v Raich showed us that. The three failed DEA petitions showed us that. Potheads have tried practically every angle.

guest : 2009-08-01 17:15:54

Wonderful news. Even with this so-called "experimental decriminalization" without open civil disobedience we will never come any closer to legalization. Such moves to decriminalize are simply methods of prohibitionists to try to appease, and distract the growing number of people protesting for legalization. Not to mention the $100 fine for those actually CAUGHT smoking is infinitesimal in comparison to the massive revenues that could be generated for actually taxing a legal product.

The report I see might hold some negative implications is this one "• A man caught near a Dorchester playground laughed when police said he faced a $100 fine - and then taunted the cops with an expletive-laced tirade." as there is no reason to ever act so rudely and disrespectfully.

Also I wonder why the report of a couple continuing smoking after confronted by an off-duty officer was even included in the story. Regardless of what a person's employment is, if they cannot show you their badge they are not to be considered an officer of the law and as such hold no authority over you.

Anonymous. : 2009-07-31 23:51:00

myeeen stand up to da myeeeen my retarded protesting will help with legalization myeeen

I'm gonna have to agree with Poisonedv, marijuana should be legalized, but this... This is not helping. This is making the problem worse and making marijuana and it's users look WORSE.

Anonymous. : 2009-07-31 07:56:48

"An unjust law does not deserve to be respected, or followed. Are you to tell me I should obey the law just because it's the law? Are you telling me I shouldn't smoke pot until it's legal?"

People aren't talking about ethics here. They're not talking about what you should do.

They're not talking about being right; they're talking about being clever. The two are not necessarily the same thing, and it's a little naive to think they are.

dreamdust. : 2009-07-30 15:28:33

An unjust law does not deserve to be respected, or followed. Are you to tell me I should obey the law just because it's the law? Are you telling me I shouldn't smoke pot until it's legal?

Taking a toke in public is not unjust. It does not harm others, it does not infringe their freedom. Not paying a ticket for something that isn't a crime, that isn't wrong, is the right thing to do. I'm not saying that doesn't come with consequence.

It also doesn't mean I don't pay taxes, or don't pay my parking tickets, etc. So don't twist it that way. I'm not going to follow an unjust law so I can "look good" for others.

Sergio. : 2009-07-29 17:20:16

Nobody's saying there's something wrong with any of these activities and we know there isn't, all I'm saying is that you're still breaking the law if you're smoking in your car or in public or not paying your tickets. And by breaking the law, you aren't really coming across as a citizen determined to fight for what he believes in, you're just another capricious person breaking the law because he thinks his 'beliefs' are above it. If everyone around you started behaving this way, things would get out of hand pretty quickly.
Whatever we do as cannabis users will be seen as an image at large, at least until legalization is reached, of the larger cannabis consuming population. If you do stay selfish and just want to come out with it, prepare to pay the consequences of getting caught. I bet you any of the hundreds of thousands in prison for cannabis wished they could've been more cautious and respectful and stayed out. The law is the law, and this is not the 60s, it's a different time and we're actually closer than ever. We don't need this behavior, there'll be plenty of time for celebrating and cherishing our freedoms once our brothers and sisters aren't going to jail anymore. And as much as I'd much rather share the road with someone intoxicated with cannabis than with alcohol, let's face it there are much smarter and more fun things to do while stoned, that don't put other people's lives at risk.

guest : 2009-07-29 15:45:46

Perhaps, but the only thing missing from this plan seems to be the, well, plan. It still looks like acting out to me.

Jimmy Joe Johannassen. : 2009-07-29 13:45:24

McKenna also said not to curry favor to the establishment. He also noted that this society ain't exactly dishing out rights, so don't go to the government on bended knee expecting them to "grant" you your rights back. You've got to take your rights back on your own.

guest : 2009-07-29 12:34:20

If you're not the legalization movement's bitch, then you're the government's bitch. By default.

It's like TM once said of something the mushroom said to him: "if you don't have a plan, you're part of someone else's plan..."

dreamdust. : 2009-07-29 12:03:26

There's nothing wrong with hotboxing a car. There's nothing wrong with not paying the tickets. There's nothing wrong with taking a toke on your lunch break or in public. I'm not here to be anyone's example. I'm not the legalization movement's bitch, and I'm not the government's bitch.

They could care less whether I volunteer in my community, have a clean driving record, pay taxes, serve in the military, donate to relief. They still demonize me.

I'm not going to shrink myself so they seem bigger, so that I can play "their game."

punjab. : 2009-07-28 23:11:00

These people are right to make fun of a law that is stupid on its face. I university we were fined $60 every time we were caught smoking cigarettes in the dorm until the students protested and tore up the tickets because they were arbitrary enforcement of bad policy. If you are going to fine people for smoking pot in public you might as well fine people for talking too much or wearing socks with sandals or having bad body odor. It is a stupid civil enforcement to begin with. Criminal behavior should be fined in accordance with the damages. Where is the proof that smoking pot in public costs the taxpayers $100 per offense?

Tired. : 2009-07-28 22:03:21

Why not legalize, sell a license, and then fine people caught without a license? Why settle for this game of paying fines.

Mike. : 2009-07-28 21:16:00

Well some folks have to just stand and say enough, we are sick of the injustice, we are not the criminals, you are! While of course others hide, some fearful to even sign up for medical marijuana in states where they can get it. Others work endlessly, paying every cent, providing every document, jumping through every hoop, and so on, working for that day when they "change" the law. It takes all kinds. Enough is enough already. In spite of risks from authorities, I have smoked for 42 years, I'm tired of it, thought it would be legal long ago, I no longer care what "they" legislate. They "grant" us our rights and freedoms, thanks a lot! Hide, use visine, use air freshener, this is America!

Nervous. : 2009-07-28 18:26:35

Adam, I understand where you're coming from, and I fully agree that making sure the issue stays visible is incredibly important. To frame it differently, I guess it comes down to whether you prescribe to Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of bringing about social change or Malcolm X's. Yes, being confrontational keeps the issue in plain site but I believe much of this is a public relations issue as much as its a civil rights one. The facts being wrong and the whole "unfairness" of it does nothing for people who have been indoctrinated to be morally opposed to it. They don't view us as people, but as this abstraction of "drug user". I think the best way to turn this around is to volunteer and serve your community, and be as vocal and proud of your drug use as you can be. Its hard to dehumanize a group of people if some of their members are positive contributers to their local area. But to antagonize and provoke the local authorities, no matter how right you may be to do so, does nothing but confirm their beliefs.

Nervous. : 2009-07-28 18:07:28

[i]We can be upstanding citizens and they will still make us look bad somehow.[/i]

Which is exactly why we have to be even more than just upstanding. In the fight to overturn prejudice and the moral inertia that comes with over 80 years of prohibition and the propaganda associated with it, there is no such thing as "fair". We have to be MODEL citizens in every other regard in order to work towards disassociating "drug user" from "criminal", because a lot of people are just itching for examples to prove the stereotype true.

Unfortunately, there will always be punk kids and impulsive activists. There are also drug users that also regularly engage in violent or other anti-social illegal activities that most people don't condone. Many people in the government and large media outlets love to blanket-associate all of us together. In order to counteract that, we have to be more than upstanding, we need to be BETTER than the general populous.

Just imagine what a headline like "Over 30% of people who volunteer regularly at say their habitual pot smoking made them more empathetic and helped encourage them to get involved" could do. Pipe dream, maybe, but something to work towards.

Adam. : 2009-07-28 17:38:47

Where did you people come from?! They aren't childishly acting out, they are seizing the safest (legally) opportunity in a long time to make a point they have wanted to make for a long time.
If them smoking pot in a car, when they like most believe it improves driving (this has been documented) then they should do what they believe in until there isn't even a fine for it.

Allowing people to tell you to hide in your house while you beg for your rights just retains the same old stigma, well I desire legalization not just because I enjoy it, but because I know the facts are all wrong.

Fishbowling a car and competently driving away makes a point. This is a safe time to do this.

I know it makes people's doomsday predictions about these laws seem to others like they are coming true. But if we stop now they'll be able to make that claim forever.

And yes the cops are the reason we've had these laws for the last 70 years, at least a giant part of it. At least the ones in higher places are.

Anonymous. : 2009-07-28 14:27:55

"We can be upstanding citizens and they will still make us look bad somehow."

This is probably true. Still, there's no reason to make their job easy for them.

dreamdust. : 2009-07-28 13:32:57

I doubt this article isn't spinning the story. No matter what stoners do, as long as the media/society has an agenda against Cannabis, the news will always be slanted in their favor.

We can be upstanding citizens and they will still make us look bad somehow.

Anonymous. : 2009-07-28 12:36:35

At first I thought "what are these people thinking?" How could they possibly believe that this could help their cause? Then it occurred to me: they're not thinking. They're just acting out, and they are not helping any cause.

Maybe the prohibitionists are right. Maybe folks are just a little too stupid to live their lives responsibly.

Sergio. : 2009-07-28 11:40:52

I completely agree with Nervous. The fact that we are making headway in the fight for legalization doesn't mean we must instantly begin taking advantage of the opportunities given us. Decrim after all is not legalization, people like myself who live in NYC understand this better than most. Smoking in public is still breaking the law and should remain so until society can get used to the idea that this stuff is natural and harmless, which would happen perhaps a few years into legalization. I think that smoking while driving or taunting law enforcement is borderline retarded behavior that is doing much more harm to the ultimate cause than it's helping. Civil disobedience is one thing, but taking two steps back after one step forward is quite a ludicrous price to pay for a few people 'with balls' wanting to stick it to the man. Breakthroughs like the law reform in Mass should be used as an example of good behavior by people thankful and respectful of the law, since that is all we ask for from the goverment, to be respectful of our rights as citizens. Plus, the number one rule should always be "be extremely nice and respectful towards cops". They are just doing their jobs, it's not their fault this country has had laws like this for over 70 years, they've just drank the Kool-Aid and played along because that's what you do if you want to work in the field. So be respectful and mindful of others, and if you're stoned, call a cab.

Nervous. : 2009-07-28 09:07:25

Ugh, just what we need. On the brink of legalization, the last thing I want to see is people antagonizing cops when all that's been gained is provisional decriminalization. After every loosening of the laws, we need to be proving to the community that doing so was a great idea and that all their fears of the society unraveling were imagined. Pot smokers looking for eventual legalization have to be BETTER than the rest of society, not childly defiant and feeding ammo right back to the anti-pot crowd.

What we have here in Mass is a tenuous grip. Public opinion can easily sway based on how this trial run goes. As I sit here, serving out my out-of-state probation sentence for possession, I'm constantly reminded about how far we still have to go. Don't fuck this up guys.

Phil E. Drifter. : 2009-07-28 08:57:37

Good for them. While I don't approve of the minors fishbowling the car (and the new cannabis laws in Mass. *shouldn't* have allowed that to happen) eventually i hope the pigs DO give up trying to enforce these stupid RACIST laws. That's right. The 'war on (some) drugs is a direct result of the north winning the civil war and outlawing slavery. In turn, the corrupt, racist federal government first passed 'grandfather clauses' which even *I* studied in grade school, to prevent the newly freed slaves from actually voting. When those grandfather clauses were struck down as unconstitutional, Racist Uncle Sam turned to outlaw the *NATURALLY GROWING SUBSTANCES* that minorities were using so they could stuff their prisons with minorities to replace slave labor with prison labor.

Read tinyurl.com/1mn for the true history behind the 'war on (some) drugs.'

Adam. : 2009-07-27 23:27:09

Stoners with stones! Never imagined more than a few would get together anywhere but in New Hampshire... [[link] = uber-balls]

This should make the government bureaucrats think twice about the efficacy of taxing something WE control.

Remember that, there are many things controlled by the government - but marijuana isn't uncontrolled. WE are in control of that, and apparently some enlightened Mass'ers just aren't going to let that go. News like this usually doesn't paste a smile like this on my face, it must be the quality of the reporting... unabashed. :D

No doubt poisoned. . : 2009-07-27 21:57:01

These are the same things as drinking in public or not serving intoxicated people type laws. Just because it's "legal" doesn't mean that there won't be any public usage restrictions.

PoisonedV. : 2009-07-27 19:43:58

Clearly I want decriminalization as much as any one else, legalization too, but I can't say this is really helping anything

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Stoners revolt in Mass

Posted By gwyllm at 2009-07-27 18:19:35 permalink | comments

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