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51 US MA: State's High Court Looks At Sobriety Tests For DriversSat, 07 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Crimaldi, Laura Area:Massachusetts Lines:108 Added:01/07/2017

In a state that just legalized the recreational use of marijuana, can field sobriety tests used to determine whether drivers are drunk also be administered to demonstrate that a person is too high to operate a motor vehicle?

The state Supreme Judicial Court on Friday took up that question in a case that is being closely watched by police and advocates for marijuana legalization.

The justices also heard arguments over whether police officers can give jurors their opinion of whether a driver is drugged on marijuana.

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52 US MA: Dianne Williamson: Statistics Hid Humanity Behind DrugThu, 05 Jan 2017
Source:Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Author:Williamson, Dianne Area:Massachusetts Lines:112 Added:01/06/2017

Maxwell Baker wanted to be a doctor. His father, a physician himself, said he would have been a great one.

"He was remarkably brilliant," said Dr. James L. Baker of Holden. "And he had compassion."

But Maxwell also had an addiction, one that he battled and managed to tame in the last two years of his life. He fell deeply in love, was taking pre-med classes in college and was filled with energy and purpose. Two days before Christmas, he told his dad that his goal was to treat addicts and educate society about substance abuse.

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53 US MA: Ten-month Old Methuen Child Revived Twice After Exposure ToThu, 05 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Levenson, Michael Area:Massachusetts Lines:122 Added:01/05/2017

[photo]

Lieutenant Michael Pappalardo said the 10-month-old girl's family is cooperating with an investigation that includes state child-protection authorities.

METHUEN - A 10-month-old girl who narrowly survived after ingesting fentanyl is the latest victim of an opioid epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in Massachusetts.

Police were called to the baby's home shortly before 12:30 p.m. Saturday when the girl was having trouble breathing. She was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, where she stopped breathing twice and had to be resuscitated. She was later flown by helicopter to Tufts Medical Center in Boston and was listed Monday in stable condition, according to police.

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54 US MA: Millbury Voters Adopt Methadone Clinic RestrictionsWed, 04 Jan 2017
Source:Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Author:Spencer, Susan Area:Massachusetts Lines:101 Added:01/04/2017

MILLBURY - After barely drawing a quorum of 100 voters, with an unofficial count of 108, special town meeting voters approved zoning bylaws Tuesday to restrict the location of methadone and other medication-assisted drug treatment centers and to impose a moratorium on recreational marijuana outlets until May 31, 2018.

Both articles received a two-thirds majority to pass, according to Town Moderator John M. Bartosiewicz. A vote count was not taken.

Article 3, which established a temporary moratorium on marijuana establishments and the sale or distribution of marijuana and marijuana products, was supported by the Planning Board after its public hearing on the measure earlier in the evening.

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55 US MA: $325 Plastic Bags - With Free Weed 'Gift' - Advertised OnWed, 04 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Annear, Steve Area:Massachusetts Lines:78 Added:01/04/2017

Giving away -- or "gifting"-- up to one ounce of marijuana is now legal in Massachusetts, but are some people pushing the new law too far?

Days after Governor Charlie Baker signed a measure delaying the opening of recreational marijuana retail shops statewide by six months, a budding entrepreneur took to Craigslist to offer people a backdoor approach to getting their hands on some pot - one that authorities say would violate the new law.

In an ad posted to the website titled "Bud, weed, marijuana, cannabis," a person who identified himself as "Corey" listed for sale empty plastic bags ranging in price from $20 to $325. Depending on which bag is purchased, the seller promised to include a "gift" of marijuana inside.

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56 US MA: Proposed Changes To Medical Marijuana Rules Draw Fire FromWed, 04 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Lazar, Kay Area:Massachusetts Lines:115 Added:01/04/2017

Medical Marijuana advocates rallied before a public meeting on proposed changes to the rules.

Proposed changes to the state's medical marijuana program do not address problems that hamper people from registering for the program, according to patients and advocates who testified Tuesday at a crowded public hearing in Boston.

The proposals are part of a larger initiative by the Baker administration to review and update all state regulations, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which oversees the marijuana program.

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57 US MA: Warren Seeks To Ensure Bank Services For Those Doing BusinessTue, 03 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:94 Added:01/03/2017

Senator Elizabeth Warren is leading a new effort to make sure vendors working with marijuana businesses don't have their banking services taken away.

As marijuana shops sprout in states that have legalized the drug, they face a critical stumbling block: lack of access to the kind of routine banking services other businesses take for granted.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, is leading an effort to make sure vendors working with legal marijuana businesses, from chemists who test marijuana for harmful substances to firms that provide security, don't have their banking services taken away.

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58 US MA: Doctors Curtail Opioids, But Many See Harm To Pain PatientsTue, 03 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Freyer, Felice J. Area:Massachusetts Lines:156 Added:01/03/2017

Doctors are being more careful with opioid prescriptions as addiction and its effects get more recognition.

More than half of doctors across America are curtailing opioid prescriptions, and nearly 1 in 10 have stopped prescribing the drugs, according to a new nationwide online survey. But even as physicians retreat from opioids, some seem to have misgivings: More than one-third of the respondents said the reduction in prescribing has hurt patients with chronic pain.

The survey, conducted for The Boston Globe by the SERMO physicians social network, offers fresh evidence of the changes in prescribing practices in response to the opioid crisis that has killed thousands in New England and elsewhere around the country. The deaths awakened fears of addiction and accidental overdose, and led to state and federal regulations aimed at reining in excessive prescribing.

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59 US MA: How A Mail-order Opioid Operation Took Root On The HighMon, 02 Jan 2017
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Armstrong, David Area:Massachusetts Lines:189 Added:01/02/2017

LUBBOCK, Texas - Across from a sprawling cotton field, among mobile homes in varying states of decay, one stood out: a double-wide with a new, expansive metal garage and the only paved driveway on the dead-end street.

It was here that an unemployed former computer repairman with a bad back ran what a drug informant called the biggest fentanyl ring in Lubbock. All Sidney Lanier needed was a computer and an elementary knowledge of chemistry to order shipments of the potent synthetic opioid from China and turn it into a highly profitable - and dangerous - street drug.

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60US MA: Massachusetts Governor Signs Delay For Marijuana ShopsSat, 31 Dec 2016
Source:Providence Journal, The (RI)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:Excerpt Added:01/02/2017

Action by the governor and legislature doesn't change a new law that allows adults 21 and older to possess and use limited amounts of recreational marijuana and grow as many as a dozen pot plants in their homes, but it pushes back the timetable for opening retail marijuana stores from the beginning of 2018 until the middle of that year.

BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill Friday aimed at delaying by up to six months the opening of marijuana shops in the state until mid-2018.

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61 US MA: State Report Reveals Barriers To Opioid Addiction TreatmentSat, 31 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Arsenault, Mark Area:Massachusetts Lines:100 Added:12/31/2016

Lexi sat under a highway overpass where she sleeps near a stretch of Massachusetts Avenue nicknamed "Methadone Mile" in Boston last April.

Just 49-percent of adult patients who check into state-licensed residential substance abuse centers complete their treatment programs, while a substantial portion of patients walk away from treatment or relapse, according to a new state report.

And despite intense focus by advocates and government officials to cast opioid addiction as not a character problem but a public health crisis, the stigma attached to substance abuse remains "a significant deterrent to seeking care."

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62 US MA: Why A Skirmish Over Pot Legalization In Massachusetts IsFri, 30 Dec 2016
Source:Washington Post (DC) Author:Phillips, Amber Area:Massachusetts Lines:99 Added:12/31/2016

In November, Massachusetts voters decided to make recreational marijuana legal, allowing it to be bought and sold in stores by January 2018. But this week, state lawmakers quietly voted to delay the sale date by at least six months.

The delay has outraged some marijuana-legalization advocates, less so because they'll have to wait a few months to buy pot and more so because they feel the legislature is trying to subvert the will of the people by fundamentally changing what they voted for. A similar skirmish is happening in Maine over the minimum wage, and progressives in both states are worried that their opponents are trying to delay or even reverse their remarkable success via ballot initiatives.

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63 US MA: Editorial: Fix Pot Law, But Not In Smoke-Filled RoomThu, 29 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:53 Added:12/30/2016

THE PASSAGE OF the marijuana legalization referendum in November doesn't mean that the new law's exact language must stay frozen in amber forever. But the fact that the law was approved directly by the voters should mean that lawmakers consider changes with more caution than they showed on Wednesday, when both the House and Senate approved a six-month delay to some of the law's provisions without hearings or a formal roll-call vote.

That decision, reached in informal session and sent to Governor Charlie Baker for his signature, doesn't change the basic structure of the legalization law. But if approved by Baker, it would slightly delay the opening of marijuana retail stores in Massachusetts and the creation of a new commission to oversee the industry. Legislative leaders say the delay will help implement legalization effectively.

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64 US MA: How Hard Is It To Get Pot Now That It's Legal?Fri, 30 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Arnett, Dugan Area:Massachusetts Lines:160 Added:12/30/2016

Dugan Arnett wandered down Winter Street while looking for marijuana in Boston.

Call me old-fashioned, but I trusted Nancy Reagan when she urged me to Just Say No. I listened when McGruff the Crime Dog insisted that "users are losers." And when my younger sister arrived home one night back in high school smelling of the devil's lettuce, I did what any self-respecting graduate of the DARE program would do: I told my mom.

So when my boss approached me to ask if I'd be willing to go out on Thursday - the day marijuana officially became legal in Massachusetts - and attempt to buy some, it's safe to say I was caught off guard.

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65 US MA: A Closer Look At The Rare Move Mass. Lawmakers Used To DelayWed, 28 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Rocheleau, Matt Area:Massachusetts Lines:79 Added:12/29/2016

Just a half-dozen Massachusetts legislators passed a controversial measure on Wednesday delaying the opening date for recreational marijuana stores in Massachusetts by six months.

How could so few legislators decide such an important issue?

The move, which took less than an hour, was extraordinary, but technically allowed.

Here's how it works.

First, keep in mind that legislative cycles in Massachusetts run on two-year calendars, beginning in odd-numbered years. So currently, we are at the end of a two-year cycle that began in 2015.

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66 US MA: Mass. Lawmakers Vote To Delay Retail Marijuana ShopsWed, 28 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Tlumacki, John Area:Massachusetts Lines:117 Added:12/29/2016

A man showed the marijuana he was selling on Boston Common earlier this month.

It took less than an hour and about a half-dozen state legislators to undo the will of 1.8 million voters expressed just last month.

The House and Senate passed a bill on Wednesday delaying the opening date for recreational marijuana stores in Massachusetts by half a year - from January to summer 2018.

The extraordinary move would unravel a significant part of the marijuana law. About 1.5 million people voted against legalization on Nov. 8.

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67 US MA: Mass. Legislators Move To Delay Legal Marijuana SalesWed, 28 Dec 2016
Source:Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Author:Murphy, Matt Area:Massachusetts Lines:100 Added:12/29/2016

BOSTON -- The process for licensing retail marijuana shops would be delayed by six months under legislation that surfaced Wednesday in the Senate before clearing both branches, the result of which could push the legal sale of marijuana, authorized by a successful ballot campaign this year, well into 2018.

The House and Senate on Wednesday morning during lightly attended informal sessions passed a bill (S 2524) amended by Sen. Jason Lewis, D-Winchester, pushing out the effective dates of several key milestones in the new law, including the dates by which the state will begin accepting applications and issuing licenses for retail pot shop licenses. The state, under the bill, would have until July 2018 to issue the first licenses for retail pot sales.

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68 US MA: Colo. Pot Problem Solver Seen As Possible Mass. RegulatorWed, 28 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:McCrimmon, Cyrus Area:Massachusetts Lines:174 Added:12/28/2016

Andrew Freedman is Colorado's director of marijuana coordination.

DENVER - Marijuana legalization brought unexpected challenges to Colorado, and it was rarely clear what part of state government was supposed to solve them, or how.

Businesses were selling marijuana-infused, animal-shaped candy attractive to children. Residents growing pot at home were selling it illegally in other states. Growers were applying pesticides to cannabis plants even though none was specifically approved by the federal government for such use.

Enter Andrew Freedman, Colorado's pot czar, who is bringing together the state's bureaucracy, marijuana industry, law enforcement community, and public health advocates to fix problems no other state had faced.

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69 US MA: Synthetic Opioids Slipping Into US Via Mail, Security ExpertsTue, 27 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:MacQuarrie, Brian Area:Massachusetts Lines:145 Added:12/27/2016

Deadly synthetic opioids are streaming into the United States amid a flood of mail that arrives unscreened from abroad every day, overwhelming the Postal Service and fueling the drug epidemic gripping much of the country, security experts and Massachusetts lawmakers say.

Nearly 1 million packages a day enter the country without any advance electronic information that might flag the presence of dangerous opioids such as fentanyl, much of which is manufactured in China, said Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant Homeland Security secretary.

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70 US MA: 'Heroin Is The Worst Thing In The World'Sun, 18 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Allen, Evan Area:Massachusetts Lines:380 Added:12/18/2016

[photo] Bonnie Bruce is the mother of a Vermont woman, Tamara, who was found the day after Thanksgiving passed out from heroin in her car with her fiance and their two young children.

DORSET, Vt. - The midnight phone call woke them all up. As Bonnie Bruce struggled to understand what the police officer was saying, her 11-year-old grandson, Elias, appeared in her bedroom doorway and walked to her bedside, listening. He knew: It was about his mother.

"Wait a minute, what are you telling me?" Bonnie gasped into the phone. The coil of dread lodged hard in her gut for the past 11 years, since her daughter first shot heroin into the soft crook of her elbow, abruptly gave way. "Is she all right?"

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71 US MA: Editorial: False Promise On PotMon, 12 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:56 Added:12/14/2016

Massachusetts voters legalized the sale and recreational use of marijuana when they passed Question 4 in November. Folks who work in the cannabis industry, who authored that legislation, want to squeeze as much as they can out of the Bay State market even if it means exploiting minority communities.

Oh, they wouldn't describe it that way. The authors of the legislation instead called for regulators to encourage "full participation" in the new industry "by people from communities that have previously been disproportionately harmed by marijuana prohibition and enforcement and to positively impact those communities."

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72 US MA: Joint Effort As Weed Goes LegalMon, 12 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA) Author:Sweet, Laurel J. Area:Massachusetts Lines:71 Added:12/12/2016

City Hall, cops, pols spearhead informational campaign

Cops, City Hall and lawmakers are bracing for Thursday's onset of legalized "recreational" marijuana in Massachusetts, determined that if they can't dissuade tokers from lighting up they can at least provide information plus some vigilant law enforcement to try to keep people safe.

Bay Staters voted last month to permit adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of weed while out in public - 10 ounces at home - while cultivating up to 12 plants per household. Selling pot remains illegal while the Legislature works on regulations to license retailers.

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73 US MA: Opioids' Hold On Parents Takes Toll On KidsThu, 01 Dec 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Allen, Evan Area:Massachusetts Lines:122 Added:12/01/2016

It was the night after Thanksgiving.

The little boy, not quite 3, wore no socks, despite the cold.

He sat on his unconscious mother's lap in the idling car, a spray of vomit dried on the window, according to the police. His father was slumped on the steering wheel, his seat belt wrapped around his arm like a tourniquet.

In the back seat, the toddler's baby brother slept under a blanket.

The parents, Tamara Bruce, 33, and Jacob Davis, 27, later told police that they had driven their children more than three hours from Manchester, Vt., to Lawrence to buy heroin and shoot up. When they passed out in a parking lot, another driver thought they were dead and summoned police.

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74 US MA: Column: Pot Users Face Stony Reception In Granite StateMon, 10 Oct 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA) Author:Chabot, Hillary Area:Massachusetts Lines:65 Added:10/11/2016

Granite State cops are bracing for a potential influx of doped-up drivers and pot-smoking teens - even without a marijuana legalization question on the New Hampshire ballot - as Massachusetts and Maine voters could legalize the herb in November.

"You're going to have more instances of drugged driving, and it's going to cost the state more money because of the increase in law enforcement and prosecution," said Dalton, N.H., police Chief John Tholl, who is also a state representative opposed to marijuana legalization. "It's just going to be a burden on the legal system."

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75 US MA: Editorial: Pushing The Limits On PotMon, 10 Oct 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:54 Added:10/11/2016

OK, so maybe the helicopter was a little excessive.

It's reasonable to criticize the lengths that authorities went to in an effort to confiscate a single pot plant from an elderly woman in Amherst - though it should be noted that the backyard raid at Peg Holcomb's home was just a small part of a larger marijuana eradication operation.

But before sympathizers anoint the 81-year-old Holcomb a great martyr for the marijuana cause, we would simply point out that in Massachusetts there are legal means by which she could obtain marijuana if she really does need it to keep her glaucoma at bay, as she told the Herald.

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76 US MA: As Drug Deaths Soar, A Silver Lining For Transplant PatientsThu, 06 Oct 2016
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Seelye, Katharine Q. Area:Massachusetts Lines:200 Added:10/08/2016

BOSTON - The surge in deaths from drug overdoses has become an unexpected lifeline for people waiting for organ transplants, turning tragedy for some into salvation for others.

As more people die from overdoses than ever before, their organs - donated in advance by them or after the fact by their families - are saving lives of people who might otherwise die waiting for a transplant.

When Dave and Roxanne Maleham got the call in June that they had long dreaded - that their son, Matt, 38, was on life support after overdosing on heroin and fentanyl - they talked about donating his organs.

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77 US MA: Editorial: Sleazy Pitch On PotMon, 05 Sep 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:57 Added:09/05/2016

Misleading the public and condescending to grieving parents is one approach to win supporters to your cause, but we can't imagine it's a winning one for the supporters of Question 4.

Organizers of the campaign to legalize the recreational use of marijuana sent out a fundraising email last week in which they blurred the lines between general pot use, which the ballot question would legalize, and use of marijuana for medical purposes, which of course is already legal.

"If you think people in our state deserve a safer alternative to prescription painkillers, please help end marijuana prohibition on November 8 by donating today," wrote campaign manager Will Luzier, who cites the opioid crisis and deaths from overdoses as an incentive to vote yes.

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78 US MA: PUB LTE: Marijuana, Guns Ruled a Bad Mix - Well, WhyFri, 02 Sep 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Todd, Robert Area:Massachusetts Lines:29 Added:09/02/2016

It was with a mixture of dismay and amusement - at the absurdity of it - that I read the quote in the short item "Guns barred for marijuana card holders" (Daily Briefing, Sept. 1). In the ruling by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, regarding the denial of gun purchases to medical marijuana card holders, Senior District Judge Jed Rakoff said that the use of marijuana "raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated."

With this logic in place, I am assuming the federal government will also restrict sales of firearms to those who consider alcohol their drug of choice.

Robert Todd

Jamaica Plain

[end]

79 US MA: Questions Raised in Council's Marijuana Dispensary VoteThu, 01 Sep 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Irons, Meghan E. Area:Massachusetts Lines:215 Added:09/01/2016

Most of the 13 members of the Boston City Council who voted in favor of an Allston medical marijuana dispensary were former consulting clients of a businessman lobbying for the company, raising questions about the influences on the city's oversight of its fledgling medical marijuana market.

The businessman, Frank Perullo, was president of Sage Systems from November 2002 until the company closed in April 2015. Eight current city councilors hired Sage to provide various types of political consulting work during that period.

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80 US MA: Editorial: 'Doctor Shopping' Is Going to Get MoreWed, 31 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:78 Added:08/31/2016

It may have taken a frightening surge in opioid abuse to speed action, but Massachusetts now has a user-friendly online system for keeping track of drug prescriptions. The state monitoring program went live last week, after a $6.2 million overhaul of an unwieldy system that many doctors avoided like a virus.

The new one is simple and fast. It pulls in real-time data from prescriptions written for controlled substances, including widely used opiates like oxycodone and hydrocodone. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and other prescribers have to consult the database before writing such a prescription for any new patient, as well as when they give existing patients their first prescription for a controlled substance.

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81 US MA: OPED: Turning The Tide On Opioid AddictionMon, 29 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Murthy, Vivek H. Area:Massachusetts Lines:114 Added:08/29/2016

RECENTLY I MET a man in Phoenix who told me that being diagnosed with cancer had made him happy. "How could this be?" I asked him. He told me having cancer meant he would likely need surgery, which in turn meant more prescriptions for the pain pills to which he had become addicted. He had started using prescription painkillers when he was young. Over the years, addiction hijacked his brain, compromising his health, altering his reasoning, and leaving broken relationships and deferred dreams in its wake.

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82 US MA: No City Council Support for Allston Marijuana DispensaryThu, 25 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Herndon, Astead W. Area:Massachusetts Lines:111 Added:08/25/2016

Following the lead of Allston-Brighton's district councilor, Mark Ciommo, the Boston City Council opted to not endorse a locally run company's bid to open a medical marijuana dispensary in the Allston neighborhood.

The voice vote - which appeared to be unanimous - came Wednesday at the weekly City Council meeting, two days after Ciommo held a contentious public hearing with the local company, Compassionate Organics. Ciommo favors another medical marijuana group for Allston, an out-of-state company named Mayflower Medicinals.

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83 US MA: In Allston, a Battle Is Brewing Over a MarijuanaTue, 23 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Irons, Meghan E. Area:Massachusetts Lines:126 Added:08/23/2016

Boston City Councilor Mark Ciommo is again facing criticism this week for not backing a locally run company that wants to open a medical marijuana dispensary in his Allston neighborhood.

Instead of supporting Compassionate Organics, Ciommo is steadfast in his backing of rival Mayflower Medicinals, a company that has hired the councilor's political consultant and close friend Frank Perullo.

At a City Council hearing Monday, Geoffrey Reilinger, who founded Compassionate Organics, tried to convince councilors that he would bring a safe and professional dispensary to the neighborhood.

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84 US MA: Editorial: More Pols For PotThu, 04 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:54 Added:08/04/2016

This week Boston City Council President Michelle Wu suggested it ought to be legal for individuals to purchase and consume pot. But if Wu has her way it would be unacceptable for them to take their goodies home from the pot store in a plastic shopping bag.

Yes, in the same week that Wu and Councilor Tito Jackson announced their support for a November ballot question that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana, Wu ordered a study into how Boston might reduce the use of plastic shopping bags - including the possibility of an outright ban.

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85 US MA: Fentanyl Fuels Rise In Deaths From Opioid OverdosesThu, 04 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Freyer, Felice J. Area:Massachusetts Lines:108 Added:08/04/2016

More than ever, the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl is claiming lives in Massachusetts, fueling an overdose death toll that continues to rise, according to data released Wednesday by the state Department of Public Health.

During the first half of 2016, deaths from opioid overdoses were higher than in the same period last year.

That happened despite an apparent decline in the use of heroin and prescription drugs. Prescriptions for opioid painkillers were at their lowest level since early 2015, and heroin and prescription drugs were found less frequently in the bloodstreams of overdose victims than in the past.

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86 US MA: City Council President, Mayor at Odds on MarijuanaWed, 03 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Miller, Joshua Area:Massachusetts Lines:119 Added:08/04/2016

Boston City Council President Michelle Wu and Councilor Tito Jackson will formally endorse the state ballot push to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The move, to be announced at a State House event Wednesday morning, puts them directly at odds with Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who is helping to lead the charge against the referendum.

A 2007 graduate of Harvard College, Wu said she never used the drug but recalled some classmates did during their years in Cambridge.

"It just seems ridiculous that kids at Harvard can smoke pot and have incredibly successful careers while blacks and Latinos, particularly men and boys, who are using the same substance are sent to jail," she said, voice rising.

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87 US MA: A Boston First: Medical Marijuana For SaleWed, 03 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Lazar, Kay Area:Massachusetts Lines:130 Added:08/04/2016

Young women in pink and powder blue princess costumes handed out cards advertising birthday parties to wide-eyed little girls, while commuters rushed past on bustling Washington Street to catch the Downtown Crossing subway.

Around the corner in a gray building with no signs other than a green awning listing 21 Milk St., executives at Patriot Care were preparing Tuesday night for a milestone. It's been a long road with more than a few bumps, but Boston's first medical marijuana dispensary is finally ready for its expected grand opening Wednesday.

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88 US MA: Mellow Opening Eyed For Pot ShopWed, 03 Aug 2016
Source:Boston Herald (MA) Author:Atkinson, Dan Area:Massachusetts Lines:60 Added:08/03/2016

'Rush' Not Expected at City's First Facility

Today's opening of the city's first pot shop in Downtown Crossing could be a mellow affair, with the owners predicting the dispensary will draw a few dozen customers with medical marijuana cards per day in its initial weeks, before slowly increasing to 90 to 100 daily customers.

"We don't expect a rush the way you think about for recreational facilities," said Columbia Care CEO Nicholas Vita, whose nationwide company oversees the Massachusetts facility Patriot Care, at 21 Milk St.

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89 US MA: Editorial: End This Unfair 'Tax' On Medical MarijuanaSun, 31 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:89 Added:08/01/2016

Companies that want to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts are being pressured into paying an unnecessarily high price to follow the letter of the law. The licensing process for dispensaries established under the state Department of Public Health is rightfully rigorous. But the vetting procedures also must be fair. That's not the case with a provision that requires applicants to submit de facto letters of consent from communities where they want to set up shop - the provision is being used by some local officials to elicit unreasonable payments from businesses applying for dispensary licenses.

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90 US MA: Marijuana Dispensary Licenses To The Highest Bidder?Mon, 25 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Lazar, Kay Area:Massachusetts Lines:157 Added:07/25/2016

Massachusetts cities and towns are exacting increasingly hefty payments from medical marijuana dispensaries in exchange for letters the companies need to win state licenses, a Globe review of recent compacts shows.

In Worcester, a dispensary promised to pay the city $450,000 over three years - and $200,000 a year after that - if officials gave their blessing to the business.

In Springfield, the city is negotiating a deal that would ultimately take 7 percent of a dispensary's revenue, plus a $50,000 annual donation to the Police Department - a pact that could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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91 US MA: PUB LTE: Why Are We Divided on Marijuana Legalization?Mon, 25 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Collins, Brian Area:Massachusetts Lines:33 Added:07/25/2016

As someone who was raised in Massachusetts and moved to Colorado three years ago, partly for the benefits of marijuana legalization, I'm perplexed that recent polls show a divided electorate on the question of legalization in my home state. We're talking about a plant drug that has never killed anyone in recorded history and has many medical benefits. Why should people be allowed to drink alcohol, objectively a much more dangerous substance, while the 10 to 15 percent of the population that uses pot gets hassled by law enforcement? Why not simply bring it within the law and reap the benefits of the tax dollars?

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92 US MA: Editorial: Make Methadone Easier To GetSun, 24 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:99 Added:07/24/2016

The argument against using drugs like methadone and Suboxone to kick heroin usually gets whittled to a cliched, and inaccurate, phrase: It's trading one addiction for another.

But ask Dr. Jessie Gaeta about some of the clients she treats in the heart of Boston's so-called Methadone Mile and she'll describe regimens that are about trading despair for hope. Gaeta, who is chief medical officer at Boston Health Care for the Homeless, knows all about the doomsday scenarios that often play out on the grimy blocks around Massachusetts Avenue and Albany Street, where a mix of shelters, treatment centers, and methadone clinics years ago created a subculture of people desperate to get help or get high. Sometimes both.

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93 US MA: Legalize Pot End DiscriminationFri, 22 Jul 2016
Source:Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA) Author:Bradshaw, Ross Area:Massachusetts Lines:43 Added:07/23/2016

As a 29 year-old bi-racial male raised in both the inner-city and suburbs of Worcester, having Black, White, and Latino family members and friends who responsibly consume marijuana, I repeatedly experienced and witnessed the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana laws in a racially biased manner.

Despite virtually identical usage rates among whites and non-whites, research has consistently found that punitive marijuana laws disproportionately target non-white citizens. A recent study from the ACLU found that in 2010 - even after Massachusetts had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana - black citizens in Massachusetts were four times more likely to be charged for marijuana possession than whites.

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94 US MA: PUB LTE: For Chronic Disease of Addiction, Methadone IsSat, 23 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Wakeman, Sarah Area:Massachusetts Lines:45 Added:07/23/2016

In "Life and loss on Methadone Mile" Nestor Ramos and Evan Allen describe the chaos and power of active addiction. The article focuses on the very visible individuals who continue to struggle with active heroin addiction or with misuse of prescription medications. What is missing is a narrative of hope for a disease that is as treatable as hypertension or asthma.

Most people will get better, and the life-saving medications methadone and buprenorphine are the most effective pathway to recovery, not detoxification. Those doing well on medication are often invisible. The intense stigma surrounding methadone and buprenorphine, evidenced by the derogatory term "Methadone Mile," leads many not to disclose their treatment as they quietly go on to live meaningful lives in recovery.

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95 US MA: New Trials Possible for Those Convicted in Dookhan DrugThu, 21 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Ellement, John R. Area:Massachusetts Lines:108 Added:07/21/2016

The state's highest court said Wednesday that people convicted on drug charges in cases that involved a disgraced state chemist, Annie Dookhan, can seek new trials.

Last year, the Supreme Judicial Court gave special permission to people to undo their pleas if they had pleaded guilty to drug charges in Dookhan-related cases. On Wednesday, it ruled that the same protection must be extended to some defendants who went to trial.

"Regardless whether a defendant pleads guilty to a drug offense or is found guilty at trial . . . the evidence is still potentially tainted by Dookhan's misconduct," Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants wrote for the court. "The taint is still attributable to the government [because] it may be impossible for the defendant to prove [their] case . . . was actually tainted by Dookhan's misconduct."

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96 US MA: Housing Is Seen As Missing Link In Opioid CrisisWed, 20 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Thadani, Trisha Area:Massachusetts Lines:93 Added:07/20/2016

It would be foolish to expect an addict - straight out of jail, treatment, or both - to find a sober night's sleep under a bridge, said Jared Owen, a man in recovery.

With not enough housing options in the state, Owens said recovering addicts are frequently left with the forlorn question, "What now?"

On Tuesday, public and private sector leaders from across New England and upstate New York convened in Boston to talk about substance abuse in their states, and how comprehensive housing programs could help curb the crisis.

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97 US MA: Life And Loss On Methadone MileSun, 17 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Ramos, Nestor Area:Massachusetts Lines:631 Added:07/17/2016

Last night's needles line the sidewalks at dawn along the blighted blocks where Massachusetts Avenue and Southampton Street meet. People emerge from shelters and halfway houses and trudge toward the methadone clinics that lend this place its ugly nickname.

An open-air drug market is in full swing on the corner outside a convenience store, where offers of drugs trill like music. "Clonidines-Clonidines-Clonidines-Clonidines!" "Does anybody need Xani Bars?" Phenergans, Pins, Johnnies? A man grimaces one chilly morning, unsteady on his feet. He opens his mouth to reveal a knotted bag of heroin, double-wrapped and ready to be swallowed should police wade into the crowd. "This is all I have left," he says.

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98 US MA: Pro-Marijuana Group to Revise Complaint Against WalpoleSat, 16 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Bernhard, Meg Area:Massachusetts Lines:72 Added:07/16/2016

State campaign finance officials have dismissed a complaint against the police chief of Walpole, but supporters of a ballot question to legalize marijuana now say they will take their case to the state Ethics Commission.

The pro-marijuana group, Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, has accused the chief of improper political advocacy on the job.

Last month, Chief John Carmichael, who has been outspoken on the dangers of substance abuse, participated in an event in Framingham organized by opponents of the November ballot measure to describe what he said were public safety hazards posed by edible products with marijuana in them. The pro-legalization group said Carmichael should not have come to the event in uniform during work hours, and should not have used his departmental car to get there.

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99 US MA: PUB LTE: Legalization's Foes Shouldn't Be Given aThu, 14 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Hatch, Steve Area:Massachusetts Lines:34 Added:07/14/2016

As a former journalist at the Globe, and as a nurse who works in addiction treatment, I was disappointed in the July 9 article "Mass. leaders join against marijuana legalization." It gave politicians space for their swift-boating campaign against legalizing marijuana, casting it as a gateway drug and tying it to the opioid crisis. I found it one-sided.

Of 21 paragraphs, five offered pro-legalization statements. The opponents "issued a passionate cry," while the lone proponent "brushed off" their arguments. The article did not offer expertise, cite evidence, or challenge statements. There is some evidence, in fact, that marijuana not only is not a gateway to addiction, but may help recovering addicts maintain their sobriety. Teen use is not up in Colorado. Massachusetts would be able to control the shape, color, and marketing of edibles.

The Globe should not enable a fear-mongering smear campaign against a legitimate ballot issue that would likely solve many more problems than it creates.

Steve Hatch, Malden

[end]

100 US MA: PUB LTE: Marijuana Is a Gateway - to a Flawed CriminalThu, 14 Jul 2016
Source:Boston Globe (MA) Author:Wartenberg, Alan Area:Massachusetts Lines:47 Added:07/14/2016

I am deeply concerned about both Joan Vennochi's column ("Like Bill Clinton, I didn't inhale," July 12) and the political coalition that opposes the marijuana legalization initiative ("Mass. leaders join against marijuana legislation"). While decriminalization in Massachusetts has been a worthwhile and successful step in reducing the number of arrests for marijuana possession, it has not gone far enough.

I have worked with the Committee for Public Counsel Services for many years, and found that police officers routinely charge people not only with possession, but with intent to distribute marijuana, which almost automatically adds in the school zone provision. Virtually everywhere in any urban area is within 1,000 feet of what is defined as a school zone. This brings felony conviction, mandatory minimum sentences, and the potential for total unemployability in the future, not to mention the harm that comes from prison time. It does so with no evidence that it accomplishes any positive purpose in the vast majority of those incarcerated, nor for society.

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