Governor Charlie Baker plans to meet with US Attorney Andrew Lelling next month, and the governor thinks state and federal law enforcement priorities could converge on cracking down on the illicit marijuana market. At the state level, where marijuana has been legalized for medical and other uses, stamping out the black market trade could bolster the regulated sale of the intoxicant, the governor said. "Once we have a regulated legal market here we should want to prosecute and go after people who continue to engage in this product illegally. If you talk to the folks in Colorado, they'll tell you that one of their big problems is they still have an enormous black market, and some of that black market's being supported by some of the legal market, and I think one of the things we should make sure is that the legal market is the market," Baker told co-hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan during his regular "Ask the Governor" segment on WGBH radio. [continues 360 words]
BOSTON - Opponents of a ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana claimed Monday that proponents ultimately hope to legalize the drug for all uses, but proponents accused them of using "hysteria and fear" to keep people from necessary medicine. The two sides met in front of the State House steps on a sunny Monday afternoon, where doctors and lawmakers on each side made their case, backed by those who said they suffered through the lack of proper pain relief, on one side, and those who had experienced the perils of drug addiction, on the other. [continues 772 words]
WAREHAM - As the fallout from botched state drug lab work continues, Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said Friday there could be as many as "three, four, five hundred people" released from jail over potentially faulty evidence. "You may have got the biggest break in your life but we're not going to let this city turn into a drug haven now that you're back," Conley told reporters, describing how law enforcement would keep a watch on those released. "That's not going to happen. And we're very concerned that there will be violence, but that's a bridge that we'll have to cross." [continues 1265 words]
