Could Massachusetts become lucky 13 for marijuana decriminalization advocates? We'll officially find out this year: A measure to introduce a civil penalty scheme for possession of small amounts of America's favorite illegal recreational substance in currently before state lawmakers, with the ballot committee having submitted the necessary 81,000 voter signatures in November.

Said signatures have been validated, and thus the proposal goes before the state legislature, which has until May 6 to work the bill into law. Should, in "Schoolhouse Rock" parlance, the bill "just stay a bill," collection of another 11,000-plus signatures is required to put the matter to public vote in November.

According to many sources pro-green and mainstream, the ballot initiative is almost entirely bankrolled by billionaire entrepreneur George Soros as one of the decriminalization initiatives he supports in America today - some estimates place such contributors at $1 billion in total. The group organizing petitioning and the like is the Committee for Sensible Marijuana Policy led by chairwoman Whitney A. Taylor; she gets another day in the pages of the Boston Herald this week.

Private citizen Taylor has been on the job for the better part of this decade, quoted as stating during the decriminalization process two years ago that "It is wonderful to see Massachusetts legislators taking this step toward a sensible debate on marijuana control policies. We are moving away from policies based on stigma and punishment, to those based on science, efficacy and human dignity."