Pubdate: Wed, 07 Mar 2012
Source: Sentinel And Enterprise, The (MA)
Copyright: 2012 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://sentinelandenterprise.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2498
Author: Neal J. Riley

REP: LEGALIZING POT WOULD BENEFIT STATE

BOSTON -- Legalizing marijuana would be good for the state's bottom 
line and would protect the health of those who use the drug, 
supporters told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary on Tuesday, even 
as the bill's sponsor conceded it has almost no chance of becoming law.

"The state needs to make money," testified Rep. Ellen Story, 
D-Amherst, the sponsor of the bill. "This would allow the state to 
benefit from marijuana by regulating it."

Story's bill would legalize marijuana and "establish a tax on the 
cannabis industry." But Story offered no details in her testimony on 
the tax rate or what revenue such a tax would bring to the state.

Although Story said the bill is unlikely to pass, she said she is 
taking a lead role on the issue after 70 percent of her constituents 
voted in the 2010 municipal elections in favor of a nonbinding 
resolution to legalize marijuana. Possession of under an ounce of 
marijuana was decriminalized by a state ballot initiative in 2008. 
Those caught with small amounts of pot face $100 fines. "There are a 
number of legislators who said to me privately that they think it is 
an excellent idea, but they are nervous about saying it publicly," 
Story said. "Nobody wants to be seen as soft on drugs." Story also 
wants drug users to have more information about exactly what they are 
putting in their bodies.

"When you buy marijuana, you don't know what's in it," she said. 
"This is in the interest of public health."

Suffolk University senior Sean McSoley, president of his school's 
chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 
testified that legalizing marijuana would also reduce violence.

McSoley, 23, said he was stabbed six times on Boston Common in 2009 
by two men who wanted the bag of marijuana he was planning to smoke 
with friends. "There is nothing about marijuana that makes people 
violent," he said. "The prohibition is the reason for the crime 
surrounding marijuana and not the plant itself."

Opponents said the proposed bill is unnecessary and would hurt the 
state financially in the long run because it would increase incidents 
of impaired-driving accidents and mental-health issues. "There's no 
need for legalization," Massachusetts Prevention Alliance spokesman 
Kevin Sabet said. "No one's going to jail for small amounts. If we're 
worried about Big Tobacco, we need to be worried about Big Marijuana 
because they're going to be coming up right behind them."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom