[420 Girl]

Chicopee and Holyoke have joined a growing number of Western Massachusetts communities in adopting marijuana ordinances that add a local fine on top of the $100 state fine for anyone caught smoking pot in public.

Both city councils voted on Tuesday night to adopt a $300 local fine.

"It puts some bite into the law," Holyoke Ward 1 City Councilor Donald R. Welch, a city police officer who sponsored the new ordinance, said on Wednesday. "It's still an illegal substance, even though it's been decriminalized."

The new state marijuana law took effect on Jan. 2 after voters approved a ballot question that decriminalized possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. The law replaced criminal penalties with a civil fine of $100.

Springfield, Ludlow, Belchertown and Hadley are among the other communities that have also adopted similar ordinances.

In Chicopee, originally the fines were proposed at $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second offense and $300 for the third offense. But, the council's Ordinance Committee last week decided to recommend a flat $300 fine after Police Chief John R. Ferraro Jr. recommended it. At-large City Councilors Robert J. Zygarowski and James K. Tillotson sponsored the order.

"We felt this was one way of protecting our citizens from this in public places," Tillotson said. "We hope we never have to use this ordinance. We're trying to be proactive."

Zygarowski, a retired police officer who served as a DARE officer in the schools, said he doesn't want people thinking they can go to Chicopee and smoke a joint in public.

"It's not that it's a major problem now, but I don't want it to become one," Zygarowski said. "If you're going to smoke, you're going to be fined."

Chicopee Ward 9 City Councilor Ronald R. Belair voted in favor of the ordinance, but said the $300 fine is out of sync with the city's open container ordinance, which carries a $50 fine for the first offense.

"I think the fines should be consistent. Either way, it's a drug or alcohol that's not permitted in public," Belair said.

Tillotson, chairman of the Ordinance Committee, said he's open to his committee reviewing the fine schedules of various ordinances.

"I think it's a reasonable request, but I don't see the connection of one (marijuana) to another (alcohol)," Tillotson said.

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