Vermont Senate advances marijuana decriminalization bill
Thursday, February 21st, 2008 at 12:38 am | By: Radical Russ
MONTPELIER, VERMONT — The Vermont Senate voted last Wednesday to scrap jail terms for first- or second-time offenders caught with up to an ounce of marijuana, giving initial approval to a bill that would give those people fines or send them to court diversion. Debate on whether to give the bill initial approval — which the Senate ended up doing on a 22-7 roll call vote — prompted a wide-ranging discussion of marijuana policy, about the message the legislation would send to young people, and about whether laws against marijuana were causing more harm than the drug itself.
Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, introduced his comments on the topic with a bit of humor.
“I’m not so naive as to think that marijuana is a completely harmless drug,” he said. “It’s responsible for some of the worst poetry every written. And as a musician, I can tell you it wreaks havoc on the drummer’s ability to keep the tempo.”
But he added, “The harm that is done to actual people’s lives because they’re pot smokers is not done by pot-smoking. The harm that comes to people’s lives because they’re pot smokers comes from the state. The problems in their lives do not come from lighting up a joint. It comes from getting caught.”
Critics of the bill said it would send the wrong message at a time when the state is grappling with a growing problem with use and abuse of harder drugs.
Current Vermont law calls for those caught with up to two ounces of marijuana to be given up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.
The bill before the Senate Wednesday would give those caught with up to one ounce a choice: They could either pay a $500 fine — $750 on a second offense — and have a criminal record, or they could go to a court diversion program, which would result in no criminal record but likely would require counseling and community service.
It’s good to see the remarks from Senator McCormack. As a musician, I have to disagree a bit about the drummer’s timing remark. I think we could easily say that marijuana helped inspire some of the greatest songs and greatest musicians of all time. But he’s right about the harms from marijuana. As my musician father once told me, the worst side effect of marijuana is prison.
Topics: Vermont
