Harvard Law Prof Argues Weed Law

Most marijuana users who get caught smoking a joint summarily pay a fine, but when an undercover police officer detained Richard E. Cusick and R. Keith Stroup, the two chose instead to challenge the constitutionality of Massachusetts laws banning marijuana for the first time in 30 years.

Arrested for sharing a marijuana cigarette at the annual Boston Freedom Rally in September, Cusick and Stroup turned to Harvard Law School professor Charles R. Nesson ’60 for legal counsel. Nesson and his clients acknowledged that they had used the illegal drug, and decided upon an unusual defense: they argued that the statute outlawing marijuana in Massachusetts has no “rational basis,” and that the jury has the power of jury nullification, or ruling a defendant innocent while recognizing that he or she had violated a law.

Before the trial, which began Tuesday, Nesson called the case “extraordinary,” adding that it offered the chance to address larger legal issues, such as the meaning of a crime.

“On the one hand, it’s asserted that a crime is a violation of a statute, which has a certain circular quality to it,” Nesson said. “The contrasting view is that a crime is an offense against society, a behavior that offends.”

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