THE DOPE ON QUESTION 2

Bolton - Local police and school officials will face a new challenge
in 2009 as a result of a new state law that decriminalizes the
possession of less than one ounce of marijuana.

With the approval of Question 2 in the November 2008 election, anyone
caught with less than one ounce of marijuana will be subject to a
civil fine of $100 and will not be reported to the state's criminal
history board. The law further requires that anyone under the age of
18 must complete a drug awareness program and perform community
service or be faced with an additional fine of up to $1,000.

The fine, much like a parking ticket, can be appealed in court.

There has been a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding of
what the law, which took effect on Jan. 1, allows. Bolton Police
Chief Vincent Alfano, who opposed Question 2, said he is concerned
the law was poorly constructed and is likely to be abused.

"I feel the law was rushed. It was ill-conceived, and a lot of
thought was not put into a lot of the loopholes," Alfano said. "I
just hope that no tragedies come out of the passage of this law. A
lot of work needs to be done on it, a lot of work, and I hope it's
not at the expense of anyone getting hurt."

Some of the problematic areas of the law, Alfano explained, include
finding the most efficient way to determine whether or not an amount
of marijuana is more than an ounce, and whether a marijuana cigarette
- - or joint - contains other narcotics as well.

"Various drugs are added to marijuana," Alfano said. "How do we
determine that? How do we know that it isn't laced with PCP?"

He continued, "Do we carry scales around in police cruisers?"

Alfano explained that scales would have to be certified and, because
a marijuana citation can be appealed, the accuracy of each scale used
could be questioned, much in the way radar guns are questioned by
those fighting a speeding ticket before a judge.

"I do not feel it is a good law. I feel there will be repercussions
from this law," Alfano said. "I feel that it was rushed through, and
I feel it has numerous loopholes and areas that were not addressed
that will become problem issues for the police and everyone else."

Despite his personal feelings, however, Alfano understands his role
as police chief and knows he and his officers have a job to do.

"It's unfortunate it passed. Bottom law is that it did pass and our
job is to enforce the law," he said. "If that's the law, we will
enforce it to the letter."

Regardless of what the newly-enacted law dictates on the streets,
area school administrators say there will be no change in how the
situation is handled within their schools. The superintendents of
both the Harvard and Nashoba Regional school districts said there
have been no alterations to the school's drug policies as a result of
the law, nor do either expect any changes to be made.

Nashoba Superintendent Michael Wood said any student found with
marijuana, regardless of how much, will face swift disciplinary action.

"If they have marijuana on them, that would be a suspension for some
period of time, up to 10 days," Wood said. "As we've interpreted [the
law] and have been advised [by legal counsel] . we're going to
continue with our current rules pertaining to drug possession."

Harvard Superintendent Thomas Jefferson said administrators in his
district would stick with a similar policy.

"There's still the potential for suspension and reporting to the
police," he said.

"We haven't changed our policies at all and we will continue to
involve the police in the same ways as the past," Jefferson added.
"We're certainly not taking the position of ignoring drug use because
of the passage of this law."

Alfano said he hopes school administrators remain tough on drug
possession rules, including marijuana.

"I have children in the schools and I don't want them exposed to
marijuana in the schools," Alfano said. "Should students light up a
joint in the hallway in between classes at school?"

Jefferson and Wood said their school districts have had little
problem enforcing their drug policies and cite very few problems.

"We really have limited issues related to marijuana," Wood said.

"We don't have what I would consider a significant drug problem in
Harvard," added Jefferson. "I don't want to be naive to think there
isn't any usage, but we've had very few, if any, cases."

He cited positive attitudes and actions taken by his student body and
the Harvard community for helping maintain a drug-free environment in
the schools.

"We're fortunate to have a community where so many kids are engaged
in what they're doing," Jefferson said. "We'll continue to be
proactive in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for all of
our students."

Alfano said he is concerned about the potential for the new law to be
taken advantage of and fears it may become a serious problem for
local youth going forward.

"Absolutely this will have an effect on our young people, who are the
most vulnerable," Alfano said, adding that he is concerned that some
drug dealers may try to work around the law by selling marijuana an
ounce at a time.

Wood, who has been reading local newspapers in an attempt to "get a
handle" on how the new law will affect communities and schools,
indicated that there is a certain amount of misinformation or
misunderstanding of what exactly the law does.

"I think there will be some sort of event that somebody will be
trying to suggest it is no longer illegal, or it's not a felony, to
have the marijuana on them. We may have that kind of pushback, but
again, school rules and law are not necessarily the same thing," said
Wood. "I don't think they'll try to test it, but whomever is the
first one to be caught might decide to put this on the table and say,
'This is no longer a felony, you can't touch me,' sort of thing."

He added: "We're not the court. We're the schools."