Pubdate: Sun, 21 Jun 2015 Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA) Copyright: 2015 MetroWest Daily News Contact: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619 Author: Rick Holmes, opinion editor THE LEGALIZATION CONVERSATION Before voters can decide whether to legalize pot, leaders must decide how A mature conversation about marijuana requires getting over the giggles and puns, says someone who long ago grew tired of snickers over "joint" committees, "higher" education, not to mention Rocky Mountain High. "It's part of people learning to talk about marijuana in a different way than they did as teenagers," Andrew Freedman, Colorado's first "marijuana czar," explained to a group of Massachusetts adults who are trying to do just that. The discussion, held last weekend in a room overlooking the UMass Amherst campus, brought together a range of people with an interest in marijuana policy: lawyers, professors, physicians, drug prevention professionals, a district attorney, a police chief, the state Senate's marijuana point man and the people putting legalization on the 2016 ballot. Colorado voters approved a legalization initiative in 2012. Freedman, whose official title is Director of Marijuana Coordination, said the basic lesson from 17 months of legal recreational marijuana is that "the sky is not falling." Adult use has held steady, Freedman said. This week the state reported 13.6 percent of adults had smoked marijuana in the last 30 days, compared to 12.9 percent before legalization. There's been no spike in driving under the influence citations, and highway fatalities keep going down. Regulations had to be put in place quickly, and regulators initially made the mistake of allowing multiple doses in edibles, he explained. When you're smoking, you feel the effects with each puff, but with edibles, the effect is delayed and users didn't know how much to nibble. Some ate too much, with results that were unpleasant and, in a few cases, tragic. Regulators reacted quickly, Freedman said, working with producers to put in place new dosage and labeling requirements. Legalization and regulation in Colorado is still a work in progress, he said, but "it's here, and it's here to stay." Legal weed still has critics and opponents, but pollsters see no signs of the public changing its mind. Freedman said it's still too early to gauge legalization's long-term effect on public health. Commercialization, marketing and "normalization" of marijuana use - for instance, as parents decide it's OK to smoke pot in front of their children - may change use patterns in ways we haven't seen. It's also too early to answer perhaps the most interesting question for drug researchers: Is cannabis a "gateway" drug that leads inevitably to more dangerous and addictive substances, or is it a "substitution" drug that can be a less dangerous alternative to alcohol and opiates? The assumption that marijuana is a gateway drug has long been a part of the popular debate, but research on the issue is, at best, contradictory. Miriam Boeri, a Bentley University sociologist, told the gathering that research is reinforcing the substitution argument. After Portugal legalized all drugs, both adult and youth use of all drugs declined, she said. A study in the Journal of American Medicine reported last fall that states where medical marijuana is legal had 25 percent fewer opioid overdoses. This tracks with other research indicating people use marijuana to stay off of harder drugs, Boeri said. Could it be that instead of being a gateway to addiction, marijuana can be a gateway to recovery? It's a question that is likely to resonate as Massachusetts debates legalizing one drug in the midst of a crisis involving other drugs. That debate will reach a fever pitch in November 2016, as Bay State voters consider one or more legalization ballot questions. But the important discussion is happening now, as advocates draft the ballot language. State Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, who is the one-man committee charged by Senate President Stan Rosenberg with following the marijuana issue, said there's almost no chance the Legislature will do anything on legalization before the referendum vote. "You have an awesome responsibility," he told the advocates. "You are drafting important legislation." The drafters have plenty of questions to answer: How will retailers be licensed? What rules will govern advertising, especially marketing to children? Should sweet marijuana edibles be banned? What testing for pesticides and additives should be required? How should potency be defined or limited? Should cities and towns be able to opt out of legal weed? Freedman warned against letting taxes be "the tail that wags the dog." If taxes are too high, the black market will continue to thrive. Colorado, where the effective tax rate on legal weed is 40 percent, brought in about $63 million in the first year, an amount expected to double over time. That's enough to cover the regulatory costs and provide funding for public education and treatment, he said, but he warned against thinking marijuana revenue will balance the budget or solve some other large problems. For now, he said, the "responsible conversation" is to talk about how to legalize and regulate marijuana, not whether to. Fashion the best regulatory system up front, then people can decide whether or not to support it. At Saturday's discussion, organized by the UMass School of Public Health, District Attorney David Sullivan and West Springfield Police Chief Ron Campurciani said they would likely oppose legalization, but offered constructive suggestions on labeling, local regulation and potency. Those drafting the questions took notes and pledged to keep the conversation going. With an Aug. 5 deadline for submitting ballot language to the attorney general, they'll have to work fast. Whether the state's political leaders will engage in the responsible conversation remains to be seen. In last year's campaign, most candidates expressed an interest in the experience of Colorado and the three other states that have legalized recreational marijuana, but in recent months Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have all expressed opposition to legalization. But it's not enough to "just say no." These leaders will have to execute the will of the voters, and they should know from experience how hard it is to put in place a system you had no hand in designing. More than two years after Massachusetts voters legalized medical marijuana, patients are still waiting for dispensaries to open, while advocates and elected leaders blame each other for the delays. Massachusetts can make a better decision in 2016 if we have a better conversation now. We can start by dropping the war on drugs rhetoric and getting over the giggles.