DA against marijuana proposal

LYNN – It will be listed as Question 2 on the Nov. 4 election ballot, but District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett calls the proposal to decriminalize marijuana the “drug dealers protection act.””I guarantee if this passes, you will see a spike in industrial accidents and car accidents,” Blodgett said in an interview Thursday.He is one of several district attorneys and other elected officials across the state opposed to a proposal to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana.He said the bid for decriminalization comes at a time when growers and dealers are selling a drug that contains 10 times the addictive chemicals that were in marijuana in the 1970s.The illegal drug economy thrives, Blodgett said, on addicting users to drugs, including marijuana.Backers of the question said despite the “sky is falling” approach of their adversaries, 11 other states that have passed decriminalization laws have yet to see spikes in pot use or related crime.They noted that laws governing the sale, trafficking and purchasing of marijuana would be left unchanged, as would any laws related to impaired driving.Blodgett said adult arrests for marijuana on the North Shore almost always occur in conjunction with other charges and said his office focuses not so much on punishing juveniles arrested on marijuana charges, but diverting them away from drug use.”No one has gone to jail while I’ve been DA for simple possession,” he said.Question 2 supporters on Thursday accused Blodgett and other district attorneys with violating campaign finance laws in their efforts to oppose the decriminalization initiative.”These violations are clear-cut, non-disputable and documented,” Committee for a Sensible Marijuana Policy campaign manager Whitney Taylor said.Blodgett said opponents have worked “every step of the way” with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance in coordinating fund-raising efforts.He called proponents’ claims that decriminalization will reduce policing costs by over $25 million false and said the addiction and cancer health risks of marijuana will drive up taxpayer costs related to use of the drug.He is aware of polls suggesting that with the final election over a month away, six, even seven out of 10 voters sampled potentially favor decriminalization.Parents who rely on their own experiences with marijuana to predict their child’s are making a serious mistake, Blodgett said. The father of a 28-, 25- and 19-year-old said the comparison fails to consider the drug’s increased potency and stronger social and legal consequences associated with drug use compared to 20 or 30 years ago.”There are parents who don’t want their kid smoking, but view smoking pot as a rite of passage. Where’s the disconnect?”