Pubdate: Mon, 04 Aug 2014
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2014 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619
Author: Madeline Webster
Note: Madeline Webster of Arlington is chair of Bay State Repeal. She 
is a founder of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (1989) 
and of the Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts (2000).

MARIJUANA TAXES OPEN FOR DEBATE

While opposing a local sales tax on medical marijuana the editorial, 
"A sales tax on marijuana," proposes holding off on the discussion of 
"special taxes on marijuana until it's being sold for recreational, 
not medical, purposes." That discussion needs to be happening now. A 
year from now the 2016 initiative petition process begins, with the 
filing of proposed laws to the attorney general for vetting and 
summary drafting. Already there are two ballot question committees 
preparing for a 2016 question on marijuana law reform, Bay State 
Repeal and the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in 
Massachusetts. Bay State Repeal prefers a law that simply regulates 
adult cultivation and commerce like produce, which means no excise 
tax. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, according to 
its name and Statement of Organization, prefers to "tax and regulate 
the use and sale of marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol for 
persons 21 years of age or older." Both will require that adults 
prevent access to growing plants and marijuana products by minors, 
punish distribution among and to minors, and retain the civil offense 
for those under age possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, while 
making no changes to existing driving-while impaired laws and 
"drug-free" school policies. Bay State Repeal is concerned that "tax 
and regulate like alcohol" laws enacted in Washington and Colorado 
and proposed this year for Alaska, Nevada, and Oregon are not at all 
like the regulations imposed on alcohol in those states. They impose 
excessive taxes, compared with Massachusetts' alcohol tax, which 
amounts to 10.3Ac on a 12-ounce bottle of beer. The licensing fees 
too are excessive, compared with the $22 per year Massachusetts 
farmers pay for a license to produce up to 5,000 gallons of beer and 
wine. Likewise, limits on home growing are not similar to those on 
home brewing, which in Massachusetts are generous enough that those 
engaging in the hobby do not fear police will break in to count 
bottles. Massachusetts' moderate taxes, fees, and regulations are the 
reason the state is not awash in stills and speakeasies. By contrast, 
our immoderate taxation of tobacco sustains a market for bootleg 
cigarettes that by one recent estimate supplies 40 percent of the 
cigarettes sold in Boston. What "tax and regulate similar to alcohol" 
has meant so far in practice shuts out all but deep-pocketed players 
from the legal market, making it likely, as noted in the editorial, 
"that black-market pot may continue to outsell the legal, regulated 
variety." But marijuana does not need to be "regulated like alcohol" 
in the first place. Like produce grown for human consumption, 
marijuana would be subject to existing rules and regulations that 
control which fertilizers, pesticides, and fungicides may be used, 
ensure accurate weight and measure, and stipulate where farm-stands 
and grocery stores may be located and when open for business. 
Marijuana can and should be grown outside, using sunlight instead of 
electric light. The only additional regulations needed are to keep 
minors away from growing plants in the field and to check IDs at the store.

In an effort to get Massachusetts voters thinking beyond the 
"regulate like alcohol" model, Bay State Repeal will test support for 
the produce model with Public Policy Questions on the ballot this 
November in the 4th, 7th and 8th Essex, 2nd Hampshire, and 3rd and 
6th Middlesex representative districts. Treating marijuana as 
produce, without unnecessary burdens of taxation and regulation, 
gives the best assurance of driving out the black market that 
furnishes minors while allowing adults who use marijuana to be secure 
in their homes.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom