Thumbing their noses at Massachusetts’ new pot law, people are brazenly lighting up in front of cops and then refusing to pay fines – leading some frustrated police chiefs to all but give up the fight, reports the Boston Herald. Local police report widespread defiance of the six-month-old law, and a vast majority of pot smokers cited by cops are blowing off their $100 fines. One city public works employee was cited by the police chief for smoking a pot pipe as he stood next to his town-issued tractor
All told, 83 percent of 415 tokers cited in Boston since the law took effect in January have refused to pony up the $100. Somerville Deputy Chief Paul Upton said his officers are now writing few if any citations, in part because enforcing the law costs more money than it's worth. “If we send an officer to court, it's going to cost us $250,” Upton said. “We're not getting a lot of (citations) written.”