High incident

Part 3

Kristen Lombardi

Calm before the storm

In retrospect, not many -- friends or foes of the owners -- seem startled by the course of action thus far. Marijuana crept into the minds of Worcester residents toward the end of last year. Indeed, Prefontaine and Rooney opened shop in Grafton Hill last September. Amorelli followed, setting up his storefront in Quinsigamond Village in late October. Petrie also moved his operation from an inconspicuous Main Street location to a higher-profile storefront on Mill Street.

On the political front, marijuana usage marked a hot debate. Even Petrie recalls spotting newspaper articles on medical marijuana use just months before the raids. Clark University sponsored several debates on the subject -- one of which ended with voiced outrage over the presence of so-called head shops in Worcester.

For advocates of legalizing marijuana, the enforcement in Worcester smacks of politics. Bill Downing, president of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, doesn't see anything unusual in Worcester's action. Such pressure is now underway in Framingham and Hanover where similar raids took place last year. For years, Downing says, communities have attempted to pass laws against items associated with marijuana. Dedicated to changing the legal status of marijuana, the nonprofit organization of Mass Cann has yet to take an official stance on drug-paraphernalia laws.

"I personally think these laws are discriminatory," says Downing. "They are based on a puritanical standpoint. Those who argue against marijuana are most afraid of its pleasure effects, and fear is a highly motivating factor."

Talk of regulating marijuana has certainly gained strides. Massachusetts is now attempting to follow paths of California and Arizona (states that legalized regulation of marijuana in patients suffering from glaucoma, HIV, and cancer) by sponsoring a clinical trial of marijuana in treatments of serious disorders. The state program, under the Department of Public Health, has yet to hand out pot to patients. But many activists see these developments as indicators of things to come.

"Arizona and California were a wake-up call," says William Breault, chairman of the Main South Alliance for Public Safety and the man critics hold responsible for the head-shop enforcement. "People's attitudes toward use of marijuana are getting looser and looser. Head shops are opening up all over the place, and we're saying enough. Our underlying message is to freeze the movement" of pot legalization.

Appearing in articles as an opposer to these shops before and after the police raids, Breault admits head-shop enforcement has become his crusade. He has helped disgruntled neighbors "focus and shape this," he says. He has worked "behind-the-scenes" to enlist support of police and Conte to put these owners out of business -- all in the name of reversing lax public attitudes about marijuana.

"I don't think we're going after the wrong people," says Breault. None of the owners have been linked to drug sales, and marijuana wasn't found on any of the premises. "These shops are sending out the wrong message. We think it's illegal to sell these items, and we want a consistent, coherent message sent."

For supporters of regulation, the message they decipher is plain and simple: America's war on drugs is far more important than all other liberties. National prison statistics best render the effect of the drug war. The federal Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that of the 1.5 million people now in federal or state jails, 59.6 percent committed drug offenses -- while only 2.7 percent were convicted of murder or rape.

"This is a fool's errand in the name of the drug war," says Cutler of Conte's decision to prosecute the Worcester tobacco-shop owners under drug laws. After all, he says, shutting down these shops will have ultimately no effect on children's access to drugs.

Part 4

Kristen Lombardi can be reached at klombardi[a]phx.com.