[420 Girl]

A week after the state’s new pot possession law went into effect, South Shore police have yet to report their first $100 civil citations. But the area’s largest communities are already moving to pass tougher penalties for public marijuana smoking.

In Quincy, Councilor Kevin Coughlin is ready to introduce an ordinance setting a $300 fine for public smoking, while Mayor Thomas Koch is preparing a similar proposal.

In Plymouth, police Chief Michael Botieri says he’ll take a similar measure to town meeting in the coming months.

“We’ve been talking about it since the law changed,” Botieri said of last November’s Question 2 ballot initiative.

The Quincy and Plymouth proposals are among the first efforts in the state to toughen the penalties that were decriminalized when Question 2 passed.

Instead of arresting anyone found with an ounce or less of marijuana, State and local police will write $100 tickets, using the same citation booklets they use for animal control violations and other civil infractions.

Question 2 also gave towns and cities the option to make public use of pot a crime. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security is urging communities to do so, and Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office has written a model ordinance they can use.

Such penalties would treat public pot smoking the same way public drinking is handled.

Coughlin, a longtime Cambridge probate and family court officer, has already sent his proposed ordinance to Quincy’s police chief, city solicitor and his fellow councilors. He plans to introduce it at the council’s Jan. 20 meeting, and it could be passed as soon as early February.

His proposal would also include a $300 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia.

“I hope we’re the first in the state to do this,” he said.

Koch hasn’t seen Coughlin’s ordinance yet, but he said it sounds like something he could support.

“We’re sending mixed signals to our young people,” Koch said of the new state law. “We have to address it.”

In 2006 – the most recent year for which statistics are available – Massachusetts had 9,124 pot arrests. Of those, 7,857 were for possession and 1,267 for dealing.

Plymouth police Chief Botieri said he doesn’t expect the law to significantly change the way his officers work.

The aroma of burning pot will still be probable cause to check anyone, though police will now have to use portable scales to weigh any pot they find in a search, to determine whether the person gets an arrest or just a ticket.

If they’re driving at the time, Botieri said they could get citations for both marijuana and traffic violations.

“It’s a change,” Botieri said of the $100 citation. “It will be a challenge to make sure we get it right.”

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...ot-public.html