Pubdate: Mon, 14 Mar 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: David Scharfenberg

MASSACHUSETTS HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION VOTES TO OPPOSE MARIJUANA BALLOT MEASURE

The Massachusetts Hospital Association has joined a growing roster of 
opponents to a proposed ballot measure that would legalize marijuana 
in Massachusetts.

The group's board of trustees voted unanimously last week to oppose 
the measure, citing public health and safety concerns, including 
greater youth access to the drug.

"Clinicians and health care leaders from around the state have a 
clear message - this ballot measure is the wrong prescription for 
Massachusetts," said Lynn Nicholas, chief executive of the hospital 
association, in a written statement.

Governor Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and Mayor 
Martin J. Walsh of Boston recently published a joint opinion article 
in The Boston Globe reiterating their opposition to the ballot 
question, which would legalize recreational use of marijuana for 
those 21 and over.

The politicians wrote that where marijuana is legal, young people are 
more likely to use it. Advocates dispute that.

"The governor and the attorney general and the Boston mayor wrote an 
opinion piece that's predicated on junk science," said Jim 
Borghesani, a spokesman for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like 
Alcohol. "It's a shame that any board would follow up with a vote . . 
. based on junk science."

The proposed ballot measure would create a Cannabis Control 
Commission to oversee a system of marijuana stores, grow facilities, 
and manufacturers of edible products like brownies. It would also 
impose a 3.75 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales, on top of 
the state's 6.25 percent sales tax.

The measure would allow people to home-grow up to 12 marijuana plants 
per household. But a group of state senators who took a trip to 
Colorado, where the drug is already legal, have proposed a temporary 
moratorium on home growing, should the measure pass, or even an outright ban.

The senators have also called for health risk warnings on marijuana 
advertising and product labels.

The hospital association represents 78 hospitals across the state, 
according to a spokeswoman for the organization, including Brigham 
and Women's, Beth Israel Deaconess, and Massachusetts General 
hospitals. Its board of trustees took the vote Thursday.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom