SJC bans police stops solely for suspected marijuana

The Boston Globe today covered the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling that bars police from stopping drivers solely for suspected marijuana, quoting our legal director:

Matthew Segal, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts [said] that with the vote to decriminalize marijuana in 2008, residents of the Commonwealth were making a statement “about how the police ought to spend their time and the taxpayers’ money.”

Pulling over a car on suspicion of marijuana possession, he said, is “not consistent with the Massachusetts constitution, nor is it consistent with the will of the voters who passed decriminalization.”

Continued police emphasis on marijuana raises particular concerns because of racial disparities in drug enforcement. Watch the ACLU video Marijuana: One Drug, Two Stories to learn more.