Pubdate: Mon, 7 Mar 2011
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2011 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/states/MA/ (Massachusetts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Marijuana - Medicinal)

REEFER MADNESS IN MASS.

Adults in Massachusetts are forbidden from buying certain 
over-the-counter decongestants without first showing identification 
and having it logged by the pharmacy. But suddenly this state is 
capable of running a full-scale medical marijuana operation safely, 
and its citizens can be trusted to use the drug responsibly?

For pete's sake, where are the nanny staters when we really need them?

A bill pending on Beacon Hill would allow sick people to obtain 
prescriptions for marijuana and set up 18 distribution centers across 
Massachusetts, so that cancer sufferers and others whose pain might 
be managed by smoking pot would have easy access to the drug.

And while we're not opposed to the "discussion" about medical 
marijuana that is now being called for by several lawmakers, the 
truth is that Massachusetts has so far proven ill-prepared even to 
deal with a voter referendum that decriminalized possession of "small" amounts.

Pot-related trafficking and violence have inched up since voters 
passed Question 2, as the Herald reported last fall, enough to raise 
the concerns of law enforcement agencies forced to deal with the fallout.

And while access to these new state dispensaries would be limited to 
those with a prescription, does anyone believe that it won't mean 
greater access for the average pot-smoker?

"Since the 1930s, we've been fighting marijuana as the killer weed, 
and that has to stop," Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, a sponsor of 
the bill, told the Herald last week.

Prosecutors familiar with today's potent product, the one that 
gun-toting dealers and buyers have proved willing to kill each other 
over, would disagree with him.

This is the same Rep. Smizik who opposed state-licensed casinos 
because some gamblers might become addicted. But he and others think 
it's perfectly reasonable for the state to get into the dope trade? 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake