A plan to double the penalty for smoking a joint – and quadruple it for repeat offenders – has been rejected.
City councilors threw out an anti-marijuana ordinance Tuesday night and told the Gloucester Police Department to enforce the existing state fine for pot possession before trying to add harsher sanctions.
Local police have made almost no effort to ticket marijuana users since possession of less than one ounce of the drug was decriminalized by state voters and turned into a $100 civil offense starting this year.
Confusion among police and in City Hall about how to administer and collect the new civil fines halted attempts to write pot citations after a single try by a Gloucester officer this year was returned to police by the city clerk's office.
To end the confusion and deter pot smokers from lighting up on local beaches and parks with impunity, the police proposed a local ordinance prohibiting public marijuana "consumption" that would piggyback the state possession law and give it teeth.
"We didn't have the tickets to write," police Lt. Joseph Aiello told councilors who wanted to know why civil fines were not being collected. "The other issue is that the clerk did not know what to do with it."
The proposed city ordinance was modeled on a sample law provided by state Attorney General Martha Coakley that has been the basis for several local laws in Massachusetts communities this year.
But councilors on Tuesday, quick to cite the more than 60 percent of Gloucester voters who favored decriminalization at the ballot box last November, showed little appetite for a tougher marijuana policy.
Councilor Sharon George, whose day job is serving as Wilmington town clerk, said her office had made its own tickets for the town and been successfully collecting $100 fines from people caught smoking since the decriminalization referendum went into effect.
Wilmington had written 40 tickets and collected 38 of them since January, George said, resulting in an extra $3,800 for the town.
"There is already a law on the books," George said. "This law has not been tested yet in Gloucester."
Other councilors dismissed the ordinance as an attempt to circumvent last fall's statewide vote on Question 2, a citizen petition-driven referendum.
"I think this is a terrible idea," Council President Bruce Tobey said of the Gloucester police proposal. "I would urge the opponents of Question 2 to get over this election defeat."
The proposed city ordinance would have levied $100 fines for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $300 for subsequent violations, on top of the $100 possession fine already in place.
The Question 2 law approved by voters prevented police from tracking the identities of violators, raising questions about how higher, multiple offense charge would be proven.
The final vote on the ordinance was 7-1 opposed, with Councilor Joe Ciolino the lone dissenter.
A Ciolino amendment that would have put in place a flat $150 fee for all offenses had more support and ended up with a 4-4 vote that meant it also failed to pass. Councilor John "Gus" Foote was absent for health reasons.
Proposals for stiffer fines for smoking pot are not limited to Gloucester.
Manchester Town Meeting last month derailed a local bylaw with a $300 fine for public marijuana use and referred the issue to the town Board of Health; Salem has approved a marijuana ordinance with $300 fines last month.
The primary point of confusion surrounding the $100 fines was what office should collect them.
Aiello said police had taken their first marijuana ticket to the city clerk's office, but were told by the staff there they couldn't process it.
On Tuesday, City Solicitor Suzanne Egan could not provide councilors with a definitive answer on whether civil infractions should be collected by the city clerk's office or sent to Gloucester District Court.
Aiello said yesterday that the Police Department was working with other city departments – including health and harbormaster – to come up with a new civil citation form that would record enough information to locate and extract payment from offenders for all violation types and could be purchased in bulk.
Once new citation books arrive, police will start ticketing marijuana offenders with $100 fines and sending those tickets to the clerk's office, Aiello said.
"We are going to obtain the (citation) books and enforce the law as prescribed by voters," Aiello said yesterday. "The officers never had the idea that they were not going to issue them. It's a new law and we are just trying to figure out the best way to go about it."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Gloucester Daily Times
Author: Patrick Anderson
Contact: Gloucester Daily Times
Copyright: 2009 Eagle Tribune Publishing Company
Website: Council Nixes Hike in Pot Fines
City councilors threw out an anti-marijuana ordinance Tuesday night and told the Gloucester Police Department to enforce the existing state fine for pot possession before trying to add harsher sanctions.
Local police have made almost no effort to ticket marijuana users since possession of less than one ounce of the drug was decriminalized by state voters and turned into a $100 civil offense starting this year.
Confusion among police and in City Hall about how to administer and collect the new civil fines halted attempts to write pot citations after a single try by a Gloucester officer this year was returned to police by the city clerk's office.
To end the confusion and deter pot smokers from lighting up on local beaches and parks with impunity, the police proposed a local ordinance prohibiting public marijuana "consumption" that would piggyback the state possession law and give it teeth.
"We didn't have the tickets to write," police Lt. Joseph Aiello told councilors who wanted to know why civil fines were not being collected. "The other issue is that the clerk did not know what to do with it."
The proposed city ordinance was modeled on a sample law provided by state Attorney General Martha Coakley that has been the basis for several local laws in Massachusetts communities this year.
But councilors on Tuesday, quick to cite the more than 60 percent of Gloucester voters who favored decriminalization at the ballot box last November, showed little appetite for a tougher marijuana policy.
Councilor Sharon George, whose day job is serving as Wilmington town clerk, said her office had made its own tickets for the town and been successfully collecting $100 fines from people caught smoking since the decriminalization referendum went into effect.
Wilmington had written 40 tickets and collected 38 of them since January, George said, resulting in an extra $3,800 for the town.
"There is already a law on the books," George said. "This law has not been tested yet in Gloucester."
Other councilors dismissed the ordinance as an attempt to circumvent last fall's statewide vote on Question 2, a citizen petition-driven referendum.
"I think this is a terrible idea," Council President Bruce Tobey said of the Gloucester police proposal. "I would urge the opponents of Question 2 to get over this election defeat."
The proposed city ordinance would have levied $100 fines for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $300 for subsequent violations, on top of the $100 possession fine already in place.
The Question 2 law approved by voters prevented police from tracking the identities of violators, raising questions about how higher, multiple offense charge would be proven.
The final vote on the ordinance was 7-1 opposed, with Councilor Joe Ciolino the lone dissenter.
A Ciolino amendment that would have put in place a flat $150 fee for all offenses had more support and ended up with a 4-4 vote that meant it also failed to pass. Councilor John "Gus" Foote was absent for health reasons.
Proposals for stiffer fines for smoking pot are not limited to Gloucester.
Manchester Town Meeting last month derailed a local bylaw with a $300 fine for public marijuana use and referred the issue to the town Board of Health; Salem has approved a marijuana ordinance with $300 fines last month.
The primary point of confusion surrounding the $100 fines was what office should collect them.
Aiello said police had taken their first marijuana ticket to the city clerk's office, but were told by the staff there they couldn't process it.
On Tuesday, City Solicitor Suzanne Egan could not provide councilors with a definitive answer on whether civil infractions should be collected by the city clerk's office or sent to Gloucester District Court.
Aiello said yesterday that the Police Department was working with other city departments – including health and harbormaster – to come up with a new civil citation form that would record enough information to locate and extract payment from offenders for all violation types and could be purchased in bulk.
Once new citation books arrive, police will start ticketing marijuana offenders with $100 fines and sending those tickets to the clerk's office, Aiello said.
"We are going to obtain the (citation) books and enforce the law as prescribed by voters," Aiello said yesterday. "The officers never had the idea that they were not going to issue them. It's a new law and we are just trying to figure out the best way to go about it."
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Gloucester Daily Times
Author: Patrick Anderson
Contact: Gloucester Daily Times
Copyright: 2009 Eagle Tribune Publishing Company
Website: Council Nixes Hike in Pot Fines
