In response to the article "Treasurer looks for limits on legal marijuana" (Page A1, April 21), I'd like to say that I am not opposed to legalizing marijuana per se. I did vote for legalizing medical marijuana. However, I have a right to breathe clean air while on the street. Today I object to having to breathe cigarette smoke from others. If a measure to legalize marijuana should pass, I will have to also breathe marijuana smoke. I hope my right to breathe fresh air in public places is protected and enforced. James Newman Boston [end]
APRIL 23, 2016 GOVERNOR CHARLIE Baker, Mayor Martin Walsh, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo aligning against the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana ("Key players join forces against marijuana" ) is another instance of politicians refusing, to the bitter end, to acknowledge the utter failure of criminal regulation. Their arguments are absurd and hypocritical. Legalization will not increase teens "access to marijuana, since right now any child can readily obtain the product on the illegal market" a market regulated by gangsters. Marijuana has nothing to do with the opioid epidemic. [continues 106 words]
Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, who would oversee regulation of the state's recreational marijuana industry if voters approve a ballot measure this fall, said Wednesday the Legislature should ban home cultivation and delay retail sales of the drug if the proposal passes. She also wants state lawmakers to restrict marijuana edibles such as candy that can be attractive to children and to give her office money to regulate the new industry in the early going. And though she opposes the ballot effort like many other top state politicians, Goldberg said in an interview that she believes her office needs to be prepared for it. [continues 877 words]
So far, just one major statewide business group, the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, has decided to oppose the measure. Jon Hurst isn't afraid to take a stand. As president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, it's his job to fight for the interests of the 4,000 businesses he represents. But when it comes to legalizing marijuana, he's torn - as are many leaders of Boston-area business groups. "How can you separate your own personal feelings and experiences from the economic and political concerns?" Hurst said, acknowledging that he indulged a few times as a college student in the 1970s. "It's unlike anything I've dealt with in 25 years in this business." [continues 1112 words]
BOSTON (AP) - A group supporting legalized use of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts said Friday that Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh are being hypocritical by supporting more liquor licenses while opposing the pot initiative. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol leveled the charge one day after Baker, Walsh and other top officials announced formation of a committee to fight a likely November ballot question that would allow Massachusetts residents 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. [continues 253 words]
NEW YORK - Howard Marks, an Oxford-educated drug trafficker who at his peak in the 1970s controlled a substantial fraction of the world's hashish and marijuana trade, and who became a best-selling author after his release from a US prison, died Sunday. He was 70. His death, from colorectal cancer, which he disclosed last year, was confirmed by Robin Harvie, publisher for nonfiction at Pan Macmillan, which released Mr. Marks's final book, "Mr. Smiley: My Last Pill and Testament," in September. No other details were provided. [continues 719 words]
Mayor: Pro-Marijuana People Must Explain Its Importance Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh responded to criticism from a pro-marijuana legalization group that called him a "hypocrite" for opposing pot legalization while supporting measures they say promote easier access to alcohol - such as keeping bars open later and granting more liquor licenses - by challenging the group to make its case for legalization. "I am not going to get into name calling, they can call me whatever they want," Walsh said. "What I would like to ask them to do ... is to explain to the people of Massachusetts why it's important to legalize marijuana. I think that would be a good start for the campaign." [continues 240 words]
Pot advocates have apparently decided that they can insult their way to victory in November. And so they choose One Boston Day - a day aimed at encouraging random acts of kindness, a day when Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh would be laying wreaths in memory of the Boston Marathon bombing victims - to insult and disparage both men. Leaders of the marijuana campaign gathered in front of the State House with a poster of Walsh and Baker and a cartoon bubble saying, "Our health policy: Drink more alcohol!" [continues 108 words]
Regarding your editorial, "Bringing textiles, old and new, to Massachusetts" (April 5), I write to point out, legislatures and bureaucrats may define hemp as cannabis having only trace amounts of THC, but nature does not. A plant that produces trace amounts of THC crossed with a plant that produces enough THC to be entheogenic produces viable offspring, because they are the same species, cannabis. In his book, Home Grown: Marijuana and the Origins of Mexico's War on Drugs, Isaac Campos notes that sixteenth and seventeenth century cannabis brought to the new world by the Spanish "found its way into local medical-religious practice." Its genetics must have been programmed to produce enough THC to be entheogenic. Due to reefer madness plant scientists are unable to grow test plots to determine if cannabis programmed to produce more than trace amounts produce more or better fiber, hurd and seed. Georgetown, Mass. [end]
Advocates for legalizing pot invoked "Reefer Madness" to mock opposition by top elected leaders - prompting Mayor Martin J. Walsh to fire back there is nothing funny about a detox ward. Walsh, Gov. Charlie Baker and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo joined forces yesterday in a public appeal yesterday against legalizing marijuana, warning, "We've learned from the recent experience of other states - legal marijuana leads to higher rates of addiction, lower academic success, and significant health consequences for our kids." Bill Downing of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition countered, "Unfortunately, our governor and the mayor of Boston suffer from a mental disorder, it's called 'Reefer Madness.' " He was referring to the much-lampooned 1930s film that depicts dire consequences for marijuana use. [continues 311 words]
Advocates of marijuana legalization are accusing Governor Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin J. Walsh of hypocrisy for supporting the expansion of alcohol sales while backing an effort to stop the legalization of marijuana. A day after the two announced they are launching a political effort to kill a likely legalization ballot question, the campaign backing the pro-cannabis referendum will hold a Friday news conference. There, the group will assert it's contradictory to support the expansion of one and not the other - because, it argues, alcohol is far more dangerous than marijuana. [continues 389 words]
The recent problems with opioid addiction represent a critical medical treatment system in crisis. This "system" consists of the relatively unregulated process by which those with substance use issues access recovery treatment services, with its many loopholes and routine denials of medical insurance coverage. The Massachusetts bill enacted recently (H4056), is a laudable effort, but does not address the core issues. Without question the current addiction epidemic was created by our current medical system, to a large extent intentionally and with foreknowledge of the risks. Further legislative initiatives must be pursued in the absence of any fundamental changes by the regulatory agencies responsible for overseeing our currently inadequate collection of independent profit-driven recovery treatment facilities. These facilities act as "knowledge and expertise silos" which are loosely interconnected into a "system" on a voluntary basis by the treating facilities, with the patients left to fend for themselves. [continues 117 words]
An Associated Industries of Massachusetts spokesman says, "Employers have worked pretty hard over the past several decades to create safe workplaces, and that includes creating drug-free workplaces," ("Biz not buzzed over legal pot," March 29). In fact, however, too many employers have worked hard to discriminate against citizens who choose to use the extremely popular - and God-given - plant cannabis, or pot. If employees may use alcohol after work, there is no reason to prohibit cannabis. That pot is safer than alcohol is one reason Colorado voters ended cannabis prohibition, and one of many reasons why Massachusetts voters will likely legalize the plant. - - Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Along with most Massachusetts businesses, I too am against the legalization of marijuana in Massachusetts ("Biz not buzzed over legal pot," March 29). While legalization would lead to growth for certain businesses and in the state's overall wealth, it would have a poor effect on people's lives and the state overall. Marijuana legalization would lead to negative effects to the people who sell it, buy it and use it as well. Backers of legalization say pot should be regulated like alcohol. However, there are already severe impacts on health due to alcohol, including the societal cost of addiction. This state should be about more than money and business. We should be about protecting people's health as well. - - Haddeel Albaiz, Cambridge [end]
Poll: 62 Percent of Mass. Firms Oppose Ballot Measure Employers are sounding the alarm about a proposed November state ballot question that calls for legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, coming out heavily against it in a newly released survey. Of 180 Bay State employers who responded to the survey question posed by Associated Industries of Massachusetts - the state's largest employer group - 62 percent opposed the ballot measure. Thirty-eight percent said they're in favor. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol's referendum will be on the Nov. 1 statewide ballot and is widely expected to pass - prompting the state Senate to prepare to draft regulations in advance. The measure would legalize marijuana for adults 21 years and older, and license, regulate and tax its production and distribution in a manner similar to alcohol. [continues 179 words]
A Report Says the State May Become a "Canna-Tourism" Hub. If Massachusetts voters approve an expected ballot measure this fall legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, the state could become home to a $1.1 billion cannabis industry by 2020, according to a report. The research, released last week by the marijuana data and investment firms ArcView Market Research and New Frontier , predicts the advent of legal marijuana would make Massachusetts a thriving hub of "canna-tourism" in the Northeast, depending on whether neighboring states also legalize marijuana. [continues 681 words]
As a law requiring Massachusetts schools to conduct drug screenings becomes a reality, several of the 10 districts that already perform the assessments say the evaluations have proven to be a key tool in the early detection of a range of potential substance abuse problems among students. Wilmington Superintendent Mary DeLai, whose district began assessing 10th-graders three years ago on its own, began screening seventh-graders this year for substance abuse signs. She said the tests were another way for students to discuss their feelings with an adult who will listen. [continues 724 words]
State Senator Jason M. Lewis doesn't want to legalize the recreational use of marijuana right now because he thinks "a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take" ("Key senator says no to legal marijuana," Page A1, March 21). I wonder how he would characterize the present market for marijuana in Massachusetts. Or does he assume there isn't one because he hasn't approved? Jim Mesthene Waltham [end]
My heart goes out to people in chronic pain who desperately need relief, but who don't want to end up in an even worse dilemma - addicted to the opioids that are dispensed far too frequently, and that lead far too often to damaged lives or even death ("Weighing risk of opioid addiction, many decide to live with the pain," Thomas Farragher, Metro, March 12). I want to thank Senator Elizabeth Warren for asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to examine the role that marijuana can play in cutting addiction to opioids for those in pain. [continues 158 words]
For a year, state Senator Jason M. Lewis maintained strict neutrality as he studied marijuana legalization - interviewing 50-plus experts, scouring the research, and observing firsthand a state where it is legal. But now he is speaking out against the expected November referendum in Massachusetts. His position carries special weight. Lewis chairs the special legislative committee on marijuana. His concerns, voiced just after his committee submitted its report on the topic, arise from his role as both a father and a public official, he said. [continues 1157 words]
Inside Massachusetts
