Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jan 2014
Source: Herald News, The (Fall River, MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Herald News
Contact:  http://www.heraldnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3604
Author: Brian Fraga

ADVOCATES OF RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA PLANNING TO SEE WHAT VOTERS THINK
OF FULL LEGALIZATION

Bill Downing was 15 when he first smoked marijuana. Downing said he
then had the "instant recognition" that the prohibition against pot,
or cannabis as he prefers to call hit, was a "huge social injustice."

"I was 15, and I knew it. And now everybody is finally realizing it,"
said Downing, a 58-year-old insurance broker who is treasurer of Bay
State Repeal, a new volunteer organization looking to put a question
on the 2016 ballot that will ask Massachusetts voters to legalize
marijuana for recreational use.

Downing, who is a Redding resident, and other pro-legalization
advocates believe that Bay State residents =80" who decriminalized
small amounts of pot in 2008 and voted for medical marijuana in 2012
=80" are ready to follow the example of voters in Colorado and
Washington state who approved recent ballot measures to legalize
recreational pot.

Bay State Repeal plans to place nonbinding referendum questions on
local district ballots in this year's state elections to gauge public
sentiment and see what language voters would support for the binding
final question in 2016. Downing said the group will also run a set of
public policy campaigns in 2014 to tout the benefits of
legalization.

"We're hoping to have the final legislation written in a certain
fashion, in a fashion that we would prefer, of course, but we have
learned from past experiences that what we want isn't always what we
get because we are not the people who have deep pockets who finance
campaigns," Downing said, adding that he hopes the law would allow
adults to grow their own marijuana as well as being able to buy it in
retail settings.

Observers say the cost of mounting a petition drive to put the
question on the ballot, and then to build public support through
advertisement campaigns and other outreach activities, could run up to
$5 million. As a result, well-financed groups outside Massachusetts
are joining the legalization effort, including the Washington,
D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, an organization that was the
largest financial backer of the Colorado ballot drive.

"Just qualifying a (ballot) initiative is a very expensive endeavor,"
said Mason Tvert, the communications director the Marijuana Policy
Project. Tvert declined to place a dollar amount on the campaign, only
saying that his group intends to support a legalization measure in
Massachusetts for the 2016 elections.

"We plan on having an inclusive drafting process like what we had in
Colorado that will include local and national organizations,
businesses, activists, medical marijuana patients and other
stakeholders among others," said Tvert, a Denver resident who has seen
firsthand the effects of marijuana legalization in Colorado, where
published reports indicate that some shops there have been running out
of recreational pot because of brisk sales.

"The system here is moving forward very smoothly," Tvert said. "People
in this state have been buying marijuana for a long time, but now
they're simply buying it from legitimate tax-paying businesses,
instead of the underground market."

Recent polling shows that voters nationwide, especially young adults
ages 18 to 25, are trending toward marijuana legalization. A recent
Gallup Poll found a 58 percent approval rating for legalization, which
marks a 10-percent increase since Colorado and Washington state voted
to legalize pot in 2012. Gallup said the momentum in favor of
legalization "shows no sign of abating."

Whether voters in Massachusetts are willing to take the leap to
full-scale legalization remains to be seen.

"Certainly there is a Yankee, Puritan mentality that is still
persistent in Massachusetts," said Shannon Jenkins, a political
science professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Jenkins said Massachusetts has many large segments of working-class,
"Dunkin' Donut Democrats" who are not as socially liberal as the
electorate in western states like Colorado, which have more of a
libertarian streak. The political culture in the Bay State, Jenkins
said, also includes a mentality where many communities, drawing on
multiple generations of experience, resist novelties like legal marijuana.

"There is some degree of reluctance to change in Massachusetts,
despite the fact that people see us as the most liberal state in the
union," Jenkins said. "That view does not reflect a deep understanding
of Massachusetts politics."

Legalization advocates hope that a marijuana ballot initiative will
mobilize more voters, especially young adults, to the polls, but
Jenkins said she does not believe that marijuana activates a voter
base in the same manner that a controversial ballot question on
abortion or same-sex marriage would.

"It might have some marginal effects, maybe on younger voters, who
have lower turnout rates," Jenkins said, "But I don't see it as being
huge factor."

Meanwhile, skeptical observers, stakeholders and lawmakers who believe
marijuana poses health risks, especially for teens, and can still be a
dangerous gateway to more dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin,
hope the legalization effort stalls in the Bay State.

"We need medical marijuana like we need a hole in the head," said
state Rep. Alan Silvia of Fall River, a retired police officer and
member of the state Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland
Security. Silvia, who opposed the 2010 ballot measure that legalized
medical marijuana, dismissed the argument that legal pot will generate
tax revenue as a baseless "carrot." He also said smoking marijuana is
still an unhealthy activity.

"We hear so much about how smoking cigarettes is bad for you and
causes cancer. Well, it's bad to smoke cigarettes, but it's not bad to
smoke cannabis? Come on," Silvia said.

Tom Pasternak, 68, a Fall River pharmacist and chairman of the BOLD
Coalition, a Fall River-based collaborative aimed at curbing substance
abuse in the community, said marijuana legalization should not be on
the ballot.

"Ballot questions usually only get passed by people who have the most
money and have the most personal opinions, rather than opinions based
on facts," Pasternak said. "I believe we elect officials to make good
decisions. Ballot questions may be the will of the people, but they
are not necessarily good decisions."

Pasternak also said he believes marijuana is a gateway drug and added
that he has seen more people addicted to Oxycodone and Suboxone since
those legal prescription drugs entered the market.

"I don't think (legal marijuana) is the answer," Pasternak said. "I
just don't see any common good coming from this, except
recreation."

Pro-legalization advocates compare the current criminalization of
marijuana to the failed prohibition of alcohol during the 1920s. They
also counter the argument that legalizing pot will mean more people,
especially teenagers, toking up by noting that people today can buy
marijuana pretty easily.

"In fact, the system we have now poses more harm to teens than a
system where you would actually know who's selling (marijuana), where
they are selling it, and to whom, and we can ensure that (retailers)
are asking for ID," Tvert, of the Marijuana Policy Project, said.
Tvert also argued that legalizing pot will eliminate the black market.

"There's a reason why we don't see cartels trafficking alcohol
throughout the country," Tvert said. "By regulating marijuana, we can
put sales behind counters of legitimate businesses and put the money
out of the hands of criminal enterprises."

When a city or state legalizes marijuana, law enforcement agencies are
put in an awkward position because the federal government still
classifies marijuana as an illegal Schedule I drug. The Controlled
Substances Act of 1970 prohibits the possession, use, purchase and
sale of marijuana because of its high potential for abuse.

For now, the U.S. Department of Justice is taking a hands-off approach
to jurisdictions that regulate and legalize marijuana. The federal
government says it will focus its efforts on keeping marijuana from
minors, preventing marijuana proceeds from reaching drug cartels and
ensuring public safety.

Even if marijuana were legalized in Massachusetts, it would not give
legal cover to everyone =80" especially federal government employees
=80" to smoke pot. New Bedford police Chief David Provencher said he
would not tolerate his officers smoking marijuana on their own time.

"In much the same way I don't want officers on the streets who have
been drinking, I sure as hell don't want officers who have marijuana
in their system," Provencher said. "In terms of employment, my sense
is that you can make a choice. You can get high, or be a cop. You
can't do both."

Downing, the treasurer of Bay State Repeal, believes most law
enforcement opposition to marijuana is rooted in "embarrassment" over
the failed efforts to stop marijuana consumption. If all goes
according to plan, Downing hopes to smoke cannabis legally in early
January 2017.

"Jan. 1, (2017)" Downing said, "is when the seed takes the
soil."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D