HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2920

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Angelo M. Scaccia

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to the destruction of drugs held by police departments.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3373        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2920

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 2276 OF 2009-2010.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

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An Act relative to the destruction of drugs held by police departments.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 47A of chapter 94C of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following new paragraph:-

At any time after seizure by a law enforcement agency of a controlled substance, the police commissioner, chief superintendent, or other office or board at the head of each police department in the commonwealth may order, without a court order, the evidence officer to submit to the department the controlled substance or narcotic drug for destruction or disposition in any way not prohibited by law.  The destruction may only occur upon the satisfaction of the following requirements:

The police department receives a certificate of analysis, sworn to before a justice of the peace or a notary public, from either the department of public safety, the University of Massachusetts medical school, or the department of public health;

Photographs have been taken which reasonably demonstrate the total amount of the controlled substance to be destroyed; and

The police commissioner, chief superintendent, or other office or board at the head of each police department in the commonwealth has determined that destroying the controlled substance is reasonable when considering the storage and safekeeping of the controlled substance.  Subsequent to any destruction of a controlled substance under this procedure, the evidence officer shall keep the original or a certified copy of the certificate of analysis, which shall be prima facie evidence of the composition and quality of the controlled substance or narcotic drug in any subsequent prosecutions pertaining to the controlled substance.