If Massachusetts voters approve Question 4, it will allow some people to sell marijuana for recreational use — even giving some convicted dealers an opportunity to do it legally.
"We are not getting ahead of the game by incarcerating and sending people through the courts," said Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson. "We need to be more thoughtful and more practical."
Jackson backs the move to allow drugs to be sold to a person 21 years or older.
"When you made a mistake in the United States of America, you served your time, you should have an opportunity to go back and actually work, to take care of your family and also pay taxes," Jackson said.
But Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson is shocked by this idea.
"Look, those people have already proven that they can't be trusted. They violated the law. They ought not to qualify to get licenses to sell marijuana," Hodgson said.
At the Bristol County Department of corrections, the sheriff says the 75 to 80 percent of these inmates are locked up due to drug-related offenses. But he says marijuana is not the only drug that these inmates have been messing with.
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"They've proven they've violated the law," he said. "As far as them getting into the business of dealing marijuana, I think it's just absolutely counterproductive."
