BOSTON (AP) - An agreement between House and Senate negotiators on changes to the state's voter-approved marijuana law will allow for a tax of up to 20 percent on retail pot sales. Highlights of the deal were released Monday by members of a six-member conference committee that spent several weeks trying to resolve differences between the two chambers. The compromise language mostly splits the difference between a House proposal to raise the total tax on marijuana to 28 percent, and the Senate version of the bill which called for keeping the tax at a maximum of 12 percent. Lawmakers also compromised on the dispute over local control of pot shops. In cities and towns where voters backed the November ballot question, a referendum would be required to ban or restrict retail marijuana stores. [end]
BOSTON -- After a week of sharp divisions and heated rhetoric over the future of the state's recreational marijuana law, it's now up to a conference committee of six legislators to try and sort everything out. On one hand, there's a House bill that infuriated pro-marijuana activists by proposing a major overhaul of the voter-approved law. On the other, a more restrained Senate bill won praise from the groups behind the November ballot question. Democratic Rep. Mark Cusack, the House bill's lead author, suggested before the votes that the two chambers were in about 80 percent agreement on their respective approaches. [continues 569 words]
Boston (AP) - Massachusetts' highest court on Wednesday cleared the way for a November ballot question on legalizing small amounts of recreational marijuana, but it ordered changes in the wording of the question's title and the brief statement that explains the measure to voters. The justices, in a unanimous opinion, said the current title and statement were "clearly misleading," though otherwise found no reason to disqualify the proposal from the ballot. The ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court came hours before supporters of legalized pot turned in more than 25,000 additional certified voter signatures to the secretary of state, well above the 10,792 needed to assure a spot on the ballot. [continues 346 words]
BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts may not be prepared for public health and safety issues associated with the potential legalization of recreational marijuana, a special state Senate committee that recently visited Colorado warned Tuesday. In a 118-page report, the panel recommended steps that could be taken should voters approve a likely November ballot question that would allow the recreational use and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and older. The report suggested that taxes proposed in the ballot initiative would not cover the cost of implementing a recreational marijuana law and warned that a black market for pot would persist in the state even if the drug was sold legally at retail outlets. [continues 448 words]
BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts has a cannabis conundrum. State law requires every county to have a dispensary for medical marijuana, but federal regulations forbid the drug from being transported across U.S. waters. That leaves the tourist havens of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket potless unless someone gets a license to grow it legally on the islands. Despite their small size, both islands are their own counties. State officials suggest the federal restrictions could add to the challenge of opening medical marijuana outlets on both, or either, of the islands in the near future and might preclude the possibility of the islands sharing a dispensary. [continues 345 words]
