Pubdate: Fri, 07 Nov 2014
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2014 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.

POT PUSHERS SAY 'LEGALIZE'

The pro-pot army is on the march. Voters in Oregon, Alaska and the 
District of Columbia on Tuesday voted to legalize the recreational 
use of marijuana (Colorado and Washington have already done so). Here 
in Massachusetts voters in eight House districts approved nonbinding 
ballot questions that instruct their state reps to support similar 
legislation here.

Meanwhile, the group that backed the successful legalization measure 
in Alaska and was behind the earlier Colorado law is eyeing 
Massachusetts in 2016 for a statewide legalization initiative. The 
Marijuana Policy Project says it hopes to build on "steadily 
increasing public support" in Massachusetts to make pot legal and 
allow the state to regulate it like alcohol.

Now, we'd love to know whether such support is really still "steadily 
increasing" in the face of the state's utter failure to implement the 
last pot project in Massachusetts, which legalized the use of 
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Can someone point us to the nearest 
functioning marijuana dispensary?

It's also worth noting that many of the same folks now pushing 
legalization were the ones assuring Massachusetts voters that a 2008 
decriminalization measure had nothing to do with legalization but was 
all about cleaning out a clogged court system and sparing youthful 
offenders from being haunted by minor drug charges later in life. 
They accused the Herald of trying to "confuse" voters on the issue.

Well, no one is confused about their motives anymore. Since voters 
fell for that question in 2008 the pot lobby has done an impressive 
job of getting legalization into the mainstream political discussion. 
Of course the last time we checked - that would be yesterday - 
possession or consumption of marijuana remains illegal under federal 
law, even if the Obama administration has decided to look the other 
way in states that make it "legal."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom