Penalty Zone

Jacob Sullum | May 31, 2005

Today Concerned Citizens for Appropriate Justice, a coalition formed in response to an undercover drug investigation in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is holding a press conference to protest the local district attorney's decision to charge seven small-time marijuana sellers, all in their teens or early 20s, with violating the state's drug-free school zones law. The charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years. The pot sales occurred in a downtown parking lot near a movie theater, but the location is within 1,000 feet of a church that has a preschool program in its basement.