Pubdate: Fri, 28 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.
Author: Matt Stout
Page: 4

SOME POLS PUSHING TO LEGALIZE POT BEFORE VOTERS DO

Some state lawmakers say it's high time Beacon Hill hashes out a bill 
to legalize and tax marijuana, or, if left to voters, risk repeating 
the awkward ballot-to-reality rollout that's plagued the fledgling 
medical marijuana industry.

"It's almost certain to be on the ballot in 2016, I think people are 
going to vote for it, and I think we have the responsibility to do it 
right," said state Sen. Will Brownsberger, chairman of the 
Legislature's judiciary committee. "I don't think it's wisest to 
leave it to whoever is writing the ballot question."

Legalization advocates have been quietly pitching lawmakers on draft 
legislation ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline, calling to tax the drug and 
keep it out of the hands of those under 21.

Supporters acknowledge past bills haven't gained traction, but they 
argue it now comes against a changing landscape.

Four states, plus Washington, D.C., have legalized recreational 
marijuana, and activists have vowed to push a 2016 ballot question to 
Massachusetts voters, who just this month backed eight nonbinding 
questions to reclassify dope.

The state left approving medical marijuana to voters in 2012, but the 
Department of Public Health has fumbled implementing it, leaving the 
state with no dispensaries more than two years later.

"I think we have learned quite a bit from the mistakes of the rollout 
of medical marijuana, and I would hate to see those lessons be 
squandered by a poorly worded ballot initiative," said state Rep. 
Lori Ehrlich. "It's already been decriminalized (in 2008) and people 
are already using it. They're just keeping an illicit business going."

Any potential bill would call for putting recreational marijuana use 
under a different regulating authority, said Bill Downing of the 
pro-legalization group, Bay State Repeal. Colorado, for example, 
leaves it to the Department of Revenue.

"Anybody," Downing said, "but DPH."

State Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, chairman of the Committee on Public 
Health, is resistant to embracing legal recreational use. Gov.-elect 
Charlie Baker has also said he doesn't support it.

"We don't even have control over cigarettes with young kids," Sanchez 
said. "That would be a big question for me. How does this impact 
kids? For me, it's the gateway issue."

The expected resistance has advocates simultaneously working on the 
2016 ballot push, which Downing estimated would cost at least $2 million.

The Marijuana Policy Project, which bankrolled the Colorado 
initiative, intends to play a "leading role," according to Matt 
Simon, its New England political director.

"If I was a legislator, I would see it that way - that they would 
have the opportunity to write the law themselves," Simon said. "And 
there's a strong argument that they should seize that opportunity."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom