FEDERAL MAGISTRATE Judge Robert Collings spotted a real problem when he chided the acting US attorney for dismissing a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge against British commentator Andrew M. Sullivan, while the government goes after others who have neither Sullivan’s fame nor his precarious immigration status (“Dismissed marijuana charge raises judge’s ire,’’ Page A1, Sept. 12). Yet the solution should not be to go after the Sullivans in our midst, but, rather, for the feds to decline to prosecute anyone whose conduct would not be a crime under Massachusetts’ sensible statute decriminalizing the possession of a small amount of the stuff.
Sullivan’s instinct was understandable - “I thought small amounts of marijuana were legal to have in Massachusetts,’’ he is reported to have told the federal ranger who spotted him with a couple of joints on the Cape Cod National Seashore. For centuries the common law protected free citizens from prosecution for conduct that they had reasonable cause to believe was lawful. Federal prosecutors should in all cases decline to go after those who in good faith believe - even if erroneously - that Massachusetts law protects them, within the Bay State’s border, from overzealous federal drug warriors.
Harvey A. Silverglate, Cambridge
The writer is a criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer.
