Pubdate: Mon, 25 Apr 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: Renee Loth

LEGALIZED MARIJUANA IS TOO MUCH, TOO SOON

When I think about the prospect of legalizing marijuana in 
Massachusetts, I surprise myself by sounding like my father. Cannabis 
tourism? THC-infused lip balm? "Budz and sudz" crawls? What is the 
world coming to?

The combination of vice and capitalism is a powerful one, so it might 
be expected that entrepreneurs are rushing to market these artisanal 
highs. In Colorado, one of the first states to legalize recreational 
marijuana, cannabis concierge services are thriving, from ganja yoga 
retreats to weed weddings. Sales nearly hit $1 billion last year, 
with the state raking in tax and licensing fees of $135 million.

Like many trends that begin in the libertarian West, commercialized 
marijuana is coming fast to progressive New England, where all six 
states have bills or ballot questions pending to create regulated 
markets for recreational pot. But in Massachusetts, at least, the 
political establishment is arrayed against the proposition. Governor 
Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and Boston Mayor Marty 
Walsh all oppose the ballot question voters will likely face this 
November, on the grounds that it poses a public health and safety 
threat, and that it sends mixed signals to a populace struggling with 
opioid addiction.

At the risk of my own anti-establishment cred, I find myself mostly 
agreeing with them. But for different reasons.

Like most Massachusetts citizens, I voted for legalization of medical 
marijuana when it was on the ballot in 2012. But the chaotic rollout 
of that measure is a cautionary tale. Recall that within weeks of the 
election, implementation of the new law was on its way to becoming a 
fiasco of falsified license applications, shoddy background checks, 
allegations of corruption and influence-peddling, voided licenses, 
and lawsuits galore. Communities objected, and licensing stalled, as 
dispensaries were sited in residential neighborhoods instead of 
clinics or pharmacies, where they might have maintained at least the 
patina of therapeutic purpose. Meanwhile, thousands of deserving 
patients suffered until the first dispensary finally opened in Salem 
last June. If the state can't handle a nonprofit medical marijuana 
market for a limited number of patients, can we reasonably expect it 
to establish an all-cash, profit-driven buzz bazaar without a hitch?

The problems associated with marijuana use should raise red flags for 
voters Ask the right questions about marijuana

Part of the problem lies with the ballot process itself, an unsubtle 
tool for writing complicated public policy. The medical marijuana 
initiative allowed the state just over a year to establish 
dispensaries, setting off the gold rush for licenses and all the 
attendant opportunities for mischief. Similarly, the legalization 
measure lays out a complex framework for taxes, penalties, packaging, 
testing, cultivating, inspecting, storage, local approval, and more, 
and requires an appointed three-member commission to have all the 
regulations promulgated and to begin issuing licenses by January 2018 
- - less than 14 months after passage. By bureaucratic standards, 
that's head-spinningly fast. State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who 
would oversee the law, has the right idea trying at least to slow 
down the juggernaut.

As with legalized gambling, the states are in a competitive frenzy to 
hatch these golden geese before the market is saturated. It's 
beggar-thy-neighbor time, and no one wants to miss out. States are 
salivating at the prospect of easy revenue without the pain of raising taxes.

But marijuana revenues, like gambling income and other forms of 
"voluntary taxation," are a cheap, fractured way to fund public 
services. Instead of people contributing equitably to the common 
good, a smaller subset foots the bill. Sure, some people will smoke 
pot whether it's for sale at the 7-11 or not. But does the state need 
to endorse it, or - worse - come to depend on it?

Possession of small amounts of marijuana has been decriminalized in 
Massachusetts for seven years. Before we embark on this 
billion-dollar bender, maybe we should just take a breath.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom