Somerville rocks, so why does our Mayor oppose Question 2?

[ron_newman]

Somerville has a well-deserved image of being a haven for offbeat and creative types, so I'm confused and disappointed to see Mayor Joe take part in a press conference opposing Question 2.

As the city's press release itself points out, "Question 2 would decriminalize marijuana use and make possession of small amounts of marijuana punishable only with a fine similar to a traffic violation." (Actually, the police can also seize the marijuana.) That seems to me like just plain common sense. It saves the city money by not wasting police and court time on prosecuting a victimless "crime".

The campaigners against Question 2 call themselves the "Coalition for Safe Streets", but this question has nothing to do with either safety or streets.

Why did you do this, Mayor Joe?

Comments

[anotherthink.livejournal.com]

My (fairly uneducated!) guess is that people who want to have less than an ounce of marijuana in their home even though it's technically illegal already do so, and that this change wouldn't make more people stoners so much as it would mean that the unlucky small percentage of current casual users who get busted would be less unlucky. This could be wrong of course!

I support legalization, but it's a long way from being politically expedient. Hopefully this minor change will be a palatable and (IMO) positive step.