## Facts

- Police executed a search warrant at Kenneth Palmer’s home and found several marijuana plants, cultivation paraphernalia, and marijuana yielding less than one ounce.
- Palmer was charged with felony cultivation of marijuana under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94C, § 32C(a).
- Palmer was also charged with a school-zone offense under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94C, § 32J based on the drug offense’s location.
- In 2008, Massachusetts voters enacted an initiative (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94C, § 32L et seq.) making possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a civil infraction.
- Palmer moved to dismiss the cultivation charge, arguing that decriminalizing possession of less than one ounce necessarily decriminalized cultivation that yields less than one ounce.
- The trial court allowed the motion and dismissed the cultivation charge; the Commonwealth appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the 2008 initiative decriminalizing possession of one ounce or less of marijuana also decriminalized cultivation of marijuana when the plants produce less than one ounce, thereby barring prosecution under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94C, § 32C(a).
2. Whether, if cultivation remains criminal, the related school-zone charge remains viable.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the dismissal of the cultivation charge.
- The court held the 2008 initiative decriminalized only possession of one ounce or less and did not alter the felony offense of cultivation under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 94C, § 32C(a).
- The case was remanded for further proceedings; the school-zone charge could proceed because the underlying cultivation charge remained.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory interpretation begins with the enacted text; a law addressing “possession” does not, without clear language, extend to distinct offenses such as “cultivation” or “manufacture.”
- Possession and cultivation are separate drug offenses; cultivation may be prosecuted as a felony regardless of the ultimate harvested weight.
- Courts disfavor implied repeal; an enactment will not be read to nullify an existing criminal statute absent clear inconsistency or clear intent to repeal.
- A voter initiative aimed at reducing criminal penalties for minor possession should not be expanded beyond its expressed scope based solely on asserted policy implications.

## Conclusion

Massachusetts’s 2008 decriminalization of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana created a civil infraction for possession only; it did not decriminalize cultivating marijuana, even if the expected yield is less than one ounce, and felony cultivation (and related school-zone) charges may proceed.


Commonwealth v. Palmer, 464 Mass. 773, 985 N.E.2d 832 (2013)