State Rep. Joseph Driscoll has filed legislation aimed at toughening laws against growing and selling marijuana.
Voters approved a referendum in November that decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and imposed a $100 civil fine. Minors would also be required to take a drug-abuse counseling course. The new law took effect Jan. 1.
Driscoll, who opposed the referendum question, said nothing prevents a drug dealer from selling marijuana to a minor.
Under current law, it is a misdemeanor to sell marijuana to a minor and a felony to sell other drugs to juveniles.
Driscoll said one of his bills would lower the amount of marijuana necessary to charge a drug dealer with trafficking from 50 pounds to one pound.
Here are some of the penalties state Rep. Joseph Driscoll, D-Braintree, is proposing for marijuana growers and sellers:
- Up to five years in state prison or up to 2½ years in jail and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000.
- A prison sentence of five to 15 years for a subsequent conviction and a fine of between $1,500 and $25,000.
- A prison sentence of three to 15 years or a jail sentence of two to 2½ years and a fine of $2,500 to $25,000 for 1 to 5 pounds.
- A prison sentence of five to 20 years and a fine of $5,000 to $25,000 for 5 to 10 pounds.
- A prison sentence of to 20 years and a fine of $10,000 to $100,000 for 10 to 20 pounds.
- A prison sentence of 15 to 20 years and a fine of $50,000 to $500,000 for 30 pounds or more.
- A state prison sentence of five to 15 years and a fine of $1,000 to $25,000 for selling to a person under the age of 18.
via State rep wants stiffer penalties for pot dealers and growers – Quincy, MA – The Patriot Ledger.
The current penalty for sales or cultivation of less than 50 pounds in Massachusetts is a misdemeanor, that’s true. But the penalty for that can be two years and $5,000.
The penalties Driscoll is proposing would make Massachusetts’ penalties even worse than Florida’s. Florida’s got more than two-and-a-half times the population and, according to Miron, about twice the rate of cannabis consumption (2.3% in Mass. vs. 5.7% in Fla. that use cannabis). It seems like the state that has the penalties most similar to your proposal has twice the “problem” with cannabis.
Also, Florida has much more of an issue with the so-called “grow house” phenomenon. Have you thought about the notion that under your new proposed penalties, you incentivize one large grow-op to become ten or twenty smaller grow-ops?
All you will do with these penalties is raise the price of marijuana and increase the profits of the growers and traffickers you do not catch. No fewer people will smoke it, no less marijuana will flow through and be grown in Massachusetts, and even more people will sell it with the attractive price supports your enhanced prohibition will create.
When will you politicians learn that prohibition is the drug dealer’s favorite public policy?
You are a fucking idiot! Why don’t you just reinstate the death penalty? I think people who sell heroin or cocaine shouldn’t even get that big of a penalty. You won’t be reelected!