BOSTON - A handful of the marijuana businesses granted provisional licenses have informed the Cannabis Control Commission they are ready to be inspected, one of the final steps before retail sales of marijuana, approved by voters almost two years ago, can begin. CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said late last week the agency is working to schedule inspections for two or three provisionally licensed businesses. Hoffman said the inspections are expected to take place "over the next week, plus or minus." He said it's possible the CCC could vote at its next meeting, Sept. 20, to issue a final license if a business passes its inspection and fulfills other requirements by then. [continues 576 words]
Six days after confirming approval of medical marijuana dispensary bans in Northboro and Bellingham, Attorney General Maura Healey's office reversed its decision. In an Aug. 25 Telegram & Gazette story, a spokesperson for the AG's office confirmed that the office in June approved bylaws passed in the two towns that ban medical marijuana dispensaries. The 2012 Medical Marijuana law originally prohibited any municipality from banning medical marijuana dispensaries. An AG spokeswoman said at the time the approval was based on Section 56 (subsection d) of Chapter 55 Acts of 2017. [continues 941 words]
WORCESTER - Moments after the Board of Health unanimously voted Monday night to issue the city's first license to operate a medical marijuana dispensary, many of those in attendance began to applaud. It was a modest celebration of sorts - for the representatives of Good Chemistry of Massachusetts Inc., which was awarded the first license, public health officials and members of the Board of Health - as it culminated what was a long process that began more than 5= years ago. Soon after Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum question in 2012 to legalize marijuana for medical use, Good Chemistry began scoping out potential sites for a dispensary in the city. [continues 1529 words]
July 1, a fated day in Massachusetts for advocates of recreational marijuana, came and went. The first day that stores were allowed to sell nonmedical cannabis passed without so much as a joint sold. No retailers had been licensed, and July 1 turned out much like any other day since December 15, 2016, when it became legal in Massachusetts to possess, grow and give away small quantities of cannabis. But in the intervening year-and-a-half, no retailers have begun selling the drug. Advocates of its recreational use have grown frustrated at the retail rollout's plodding pace. [continues 1210 words]
American Grow Lab employees gather clippings from "mother" plants to be grown into use for medical marijuana. American Grow Lab employees gather clippings from "mother" plants to be grown into use for medical marijuana. (Mark Mirko / Hartford Courant) The top federal law enforcement official in Massachusetts signaled Tuesday he would not aggressively prosecute people for using and selling marijuana -- a federal, if not state crime -- saying that while he could not "effectively immunize" residents from federal laws criminalizing the drug, his office was turning its attention to the state's opioid problem. [continues 519 words]
To the editor: Your June 28 editorial, "Marijuana-impaired drivers a growing danger," lacks a rational basis for crying wolf. In fact, marijuana consumption's negligible impact on driving ability pales next to alcohol and distraction by smartphone use. While no one expects an editorial board to research extensively law enforcement claims on this subject, as a reader I do expect you to do some research in the scientific journals and not popular press. Had you done so, you would have found the growing consensus that the motor vehicle accident odds ratio following marijuana consumption and driving is an order of magnitude smaller than a blood alcohol level over .05. [continues 88 words]
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, industries across America are struggling to redress decades of discrimination and boost the ranks of minorities and the disenfranchised in their workforces. But what if you could design an industry from scratch? Could you somehow bake in diversity and fairness? We're about to find out. Last month, Massachusetts rolled out the country's first statewide marijuana industry "equity" program, giving preferential treatment to people who are typically marginalized by the business world. [continues 1284 words]
OXFORD - The brand-new computers, minimalist modern decor and iPad check-in seem more akin to an Apple Store. But the security guard and the very slight sickly-sweet smell upon entering reveal the true nature of the new business on Main Street: It's the region's second marijuana dispensary and it celebrated its grand opening Wednesday. Curaleaf operates a dispensary in Hanover and a state-of-the-art grow facility in Webster. It plans to open a third dispensary in Provincetown at the end of the summer. It opened its roughly 2,000-square-foot dispensary in Oxford on Saturday and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday morning. [continues 296 words]
Since last month's release of revised regulations for adult recreational marijuana use, municipalities are heading to town meetings this spring to decide whether to ban or allow marijuana establishments and ways to regulate them. Shrewsbury, Sutton, Grafton, Northboro, Northbridge and Douglas are among the Central Massachusetts communities that will deal with marijuana issues at town meetings in April and May. Northboro may be the only community that has an article that seeks to ban not only recreational marijuana, but also medical marijuana establishments. [continues 1017 words]
In just the first day of accepting preliminary applications, the Cannabis Control Commission said 23 companies and entrepreneurs had submitted requests for expedited licensing, and another 167 were in the process after the agency launched its online licensing system Monday. "Yesterday was a seminal day in the thus-far-brief history of the commission," said Steve Hoffman, the agency's chairman. "There were probably a large number of people that didn't think we'd be ready on April 2 to start accepting applications," but the agency's regulations were in place on time last month and its system worked smoothly, he added. [continues 500 words]
On Monday at noon, decades of debate all come down to this: a click of a computer mouse by a state technology contractor. With that, the Massachusetts state government's system for legal pot use will blink to life, and businesses can begin applying for licenses to grow, process, and sell cannabis to adults 21 and older. The behind-the-scenes milestone will not have an immediate impact on consumers. But it does mark the beginning of a process that regulators expect will lead to the debut of recreational pot sales in July. [continues 658 words]
When President Trump took the stage in New Hampshire on Monday and delivered a fiery speech about how the White House plans to tackle the nationwide opioid problem, he leaned heavily on the idea that the Massachusetts city of Lawrence was largely to blame for the scourge of addiction in the Granite State. Citing a 2017 study by researchers at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine, the president said the "sanctuary city" of Lawrence, a community that restricts its cooperation with federal immigration officials, is one of "the primary sources of fentanyl in six New Hampshire counties." [continues 502 words]
President Trump made big news in New Hampshire this week with his call for applying the death penalty to big drug dealers - and that only goes to show that bad policy makes for easy headlines. The best explanation of why that's a thoroughly wrong-headed approach is also the simplest: Western societies don't execute people for those kinds of crimes. Nor should we start. Without using names, Trump cited conversations with international leaders who supposedly told him their countries have no drug problems because they have the death penalty for drug traffickers. Only a handful of nations routinely execute drug smugglers or traffickers. Among them: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. That's hardly an honor roll of nations that respect human rights and liberties or the process of law; their leaders are not the people Trump should be consulting on criminal justice policy. [continues 364 words]
Marijuana companies will be banned from a majority of cities and towns in Massachusetts when recreational sales begin this summer, a Globe review has found, the latest indication that there will be fewer pot stores in the early going than many consumers expected. At least 189 of the state's 351 municipalities have barred retail marijuana stores and, in most cases, cultivation facilities and other cannabis operations, too, according to local news reports, municipal records, and data collected by the office of Attorney General Maura Healey. [continues 1220 words]
WEST BRIDGEWATER - The class had covered bullying, Internet safety, and good decision-making, and by February, Officer Kenneth Thaxter could see that the sixth-graders were ready. The lights went off, and the projector went on. "Today," the DARE officer said, "we're going to talk about marijuana." For 16 years, every elementary school student in this small town has learned about drugs from Thaxter. But this year, his lesson needed to change, and he was about to find out whether the students knew why. [continues 1558 words]
The state Cannabis Control Commission split 3-2 Wednesday over whether to automatically disqualify people with trafficking convictions from working with legal marijuana. People with a prior conviction for trafficking in drugs other than marijuana will be barred from working in jobs that include access to the plant in the newly legal marijuana industry, a decision made after about an hour of tense debate among state pot regulators. The Cannabis Control Commission split 3-2 on Wednesday afternoon over whether to automatically disqualify people with trafficking convictions from working with marijuana, adding those convictions to a list of automatically disqualifying issues like being registered as a sex offender, open or unresolved criminal proceedings, violent felony convictions, and felony convictions involving drugs other than marijuana. [continues 727 words]
The state Department of Public Health has suspended retail sales of medical marijuana products at Healthy Pharms Inc. until further notice after a sample tested positive for a pesticide, officials said Monday. The company, which has retail locations in Cambridge and Georgetown, notified the state on Friday that a sample batch of marijuana was found to contain bifenthrin, a pesticide commonly used in food products, the Department of Public Health said in a statement. Registered marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts are prohibited from using pesticides on marijuana grown in their facilities, officials said. Healthy Pharms said none of the marijuana from the contaminated batch was sold to the public. [continues 215 words]
State regulators voted Monday to limit the roll-out of recreational marijuana sales in July, postponing licensing of home delivery services and pot lounges while allowing retail pot shops and their suppliers to open in July as scheduled. The Cannabis Control Commission had been under pressure to delay delivery and "social consumption" operations from Governor Charlie Baker and other political figures, law enforcement officials, and medical marijuana business interests, who had argued the nascent agency was trying to do too much at the outset and would struggle to oversee so many different types of operations. [continues 853 words]
WORCESTER - City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. wants to ban recreational marijuana retail stores, cultivators, manufacturers and related establishments from all residential-zoned areas and preclude them from being located within 500 feet of schools, public parks, playgrounds, licensed day care centers and public libraries. Under zoning amendments being recommended by Mr. Augustus, recreational marijuana establishments would only be allowed by special permit in areas zoned for manufacturing and business uses, as well as in Institutional-Hospital zones and in the Airport zone, which includes the industrial park next to Worcester Regional Airport. [continues 645 words]
Massachusetts should consider creating a state-run bank to serve recreational marijuana companies, the state's top cannabis official suggested Wednesday, warning that an all-cash industry would create security risks and regulatory headaches. With recreational pot sales scheduled to begin in July, Cannabis Control Commission chairman Steve Hoffman said no local banks or credit unions have committed to providing financial services to recreational marijuana shops and other licensed cannabis operations, wary they will run afoul of federal restrictions. "There's a high degree of urgency, so it's something we need to start talking about," Hoffman said in an interview. "Unfortunately, it's a real possibility" that the recreational industry won't have access to any banking services, he said. "We're working as hard as we can to preempt that, but we can't force any bank or credit union to service this industry." [continues 991 words]
Political pressure on the state Cannabis Control Commission intensified Thursday, as Attorney General Maura Healey and 78 state legislators joined Governor Charlie Baker in pressing the independent agency to roll out a more limited recreational marijuana industry this summer. In letters sent at the close of a public comment period on the commission's draft rules for pot companies, Healey and the lawmakers urged cannabis regulators to delay their provisional plans to license marijuana cafes, delivery services that don't also operate a physical storefront, and "mixed-use" businesses such as art galleries and theaters that want to sell cannabis on the side. [continues 450 words]
Drug treatment can't help dead people. That's why San Francisco is scheduled to open two safe injection sites later this year, where drug users will be allowed to shoot up under medical supervision. If an addict overdoses, trained staff will be available to revive them with an overdose antidote like naloxone, commonly known as Narcan. Staffers can also recommend treatment options to those interested. In an effort to stem fatal overdoses, safe injection sites are now under discussion in such cities as Philadelphia, Seattle, and Ithaca, N.Y. [continues 494 words]
The Baker administration chastised Massachusetts pot regulators this week, saying their draft plan to create one of the world's most permissive regulated marijuana markets goes too far, too fast. The Baker administration chastised Massachusetts pot regulators this week, saying their draft plan to create one of the world's most permissive regulated marijuana markets goes too far, too fast. In a letter to the Cannabis Control Commission dated Monday , the governor's office warned the independent agency that it had reached beyond the core mandate of the state's marijuana legalization law by proposing the licensure of businesses not seen in other states' recreational markets: sit-and-get-high cafes, pot delivery services not tied to dispensaries, and even movie theaters that want to offer patrons cannabis-laced snacks. [continues 921 words]
WORCESTER - There are board games, an X-Box and snacks for sale. Members of The Summit Lounge social club are allowed to bring in food from nearby restaurants. But that's not all they can bring in. The Summit Lounge opened Friday as the city's first private club for those who want a social setting in which to smoke a joint. But Mr. Moon, 27, of Northbridge, said the goal of the business is not just to provide people with a place to get high. [continues 470 words]
Governor Charlie Baker plans to meet with US Attorney Andrew Lelling next month, and the governor thinks state and federal law enforcement priorities could converge on cracking down on the illicit marijuana market. At the state level, where marijuana has been legalized for medical and other uses, stamping out the black market trade could bolster the regulated sale of the intoxicant, the governor said. "Once we have a regulated legal market here we should want to prosecute and go after people who continue to engage in this product illegally. If you talk to the folks in Colorado, they'll tell you that one of their big problems is they still have an enormous black market, and some of that black market's being supported by some of the legal market, and I think one of the things we should make sure is that the legal market is the market," Baker told co-hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan during his regular "Ask the Governor" segment on WGBH radio. [continues 360 words]
NORTH ANDOVER - Dr. Jeff Goldstein is hunting for "a billion-dollar molecule." But to find it, he first needs permission from residents here to grow marijuana - actually, a stupendous amount of marijuana. That's why, on Sunday afternoon, he was pacing anxiously behind a small folding table in the lobby of Osgood Landing, the massive former Lucent Technologies plant he bought with his wife in 2003 and now hopes to convert into one of the world's largest indoor marijuana growing and research centers. [continues 1246 words]
Dajia Brown cares for Brooklyn at their Somerville home. She credits a Boston Medical Center program for her progress. Last June, Dajia Brown embarked on a dangerous phase of life - so dangerous that many in her situation do not survive. It started when she gave birth to her daughter, Brooklyn, several months after entering treatment for addiction to fentanyl pills. The postpartum period, a tough time for many women, can be particularly challenging for women with opioid use disorder, putting them at high risk of relapse and overdose. [continues 982 words]
A public hearing on Whitman's proposed ban of recreational marijuana sales will be held before the Planning Board on Feb. 12. To take effect, the ban requires approval at a special town election, which has been set for March 17, and approval at a special Town Meeting. A date for the Town Meeting has not yet been set, according to Town Administrator Frank Lynam. The town voted in favor of the 2016 statewide ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana, but Lynam said these votes test the will of residents on whether they want non-medical retail sales within the town. "This is the community's opportunity to say yes or no here," he said. [end]
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is plowing ahead with its preparations for the debut of recreational pot sales in July, despite a recent change in federal law enforcement policy that has put a cloud of uncertainty over the marijuana industry. The commission has voted to negotiate a contract with Franwell Inc., a Florida-based software firm whose "Metrc" product tracks all the marijuana sold legally in Colorado and most other states with recreational markets. The system, for which about $750,000 has been budgeted, is a vital piece of regulatory infrastructure meant to prevent marijuana that's grown, processed, and sold in state-licensed facilities from being diverted to the illicit market. [continues 191 words]
Police in Hingham are investigating after a student at the South Shore Educational Collaborative School allegedly supplied classmates with cookies that were laced with marijuana, officials said Monday. According to a public notice posted to the department's website, police were called to the school Thursday, after the student, who wasn't named in the report, had distributed the cookies to at least five other people. Police said the students who ate the cookies, who were between the ages of 16 and 17, were "evaluated by a school nurse who believed the students were under the influence of marijuana." [continues 262 words]
IN WASHINGTON, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reversed Obama administration policies and freed US attorneys to prosecute the marijuana business, even where it's legal. In Boston, US Attorney Andrew Lelling has given no assurances that he won't. Meanwhile, in a nondescript Natick strip mall, in a physician's office above a pizza joint and dance school, and down the hall from the Ebenezer Assembly of God ministry, Dr. Uma Dhanabalan helps patients use marijuana to wean themselves from an actual drug menace. That would be opioids, legally prescribed, government approved, a drug that's made billions for the politically wired pharmaceutical industry and now kills nearly 100 Americans every day. [continues 553 words]
SPRINGFIELD - Two Central Massachusetts men were charged in federal court in Springfield Friday with commercial growing of marijuana. Federal agents learned of their operation when one of them was featured in a magazine article talking about his business. Mr. Vallee was featured in an article in High Times published in February. In the article, Eric Vallee, 38, of Auburn, spoke of regularly harvesting 10 pounds of marijuana per month. Based on that number, federal agents determined that he was harvesting a substantial amount of marijuana per year. The article also noted he worked with Peter Molle, 35, of Holland. [continues 142 words]
Beantown Greentown is trying to build a 100-foot-long joint this weekend at a marijuana expo event in Worcester. This is a practice run. Keith Laham and his friends have been practicing for the past few months. They have gathered in his cellar, in other people's cellars - you name it, the 42-year-old West Roxbury native said. But this weekend will mark the true attempt, and Laham, cofounder of Beantown Greentown, a medical marijuana advocacy group, lifestyle brand, and cannabis club, has high ambitions for it. [continues 627 words]
WORCESTER - Thousands of people gathered at a convention hall Saturday for the first-ever Harvest Cup, a friendly if spirited competition among home-growers of marijuana that doubled as a convention for the burgeoning cannabis industry and its consumers. The event, taking place this weekend at the DCU Center, came the same week that marijuana regulators began drafting rules for the scheduled July start of recreational sales in Massachusetts. Many participants Saturday were overheard debating various policies and what they will mean for the small-scale cultivators at the heart of the Harvest Cup once millions of dollars of investment funds pour into the state. [continues 683 words]
Last March, I wrote Congressman Seth Moulton asking him to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 975, the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act." He responded that, "The federal government ought to respect the will of the voters in states like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington that have approved marijuana legalization." Yet, instead of signing on as a co-sponsor, he chooses to leave federal enforcement up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions understands the proper roles of Congress and his office. He stated at his confirmation hearing, "I think one obvious concern is that the United States Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state and the distribution of it an illegal act. If that's something that's not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule. It is not the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able." By "able," he is referring to budgetary constraints of attempting to enforce federal prohibition of a plant that grows in every state. Mr. Moulton, leaders lead. Get off the fence and sponsor the legislation. Steven S. Epstein West Street Georgetown [end]
Pot sales are expected to begin around July 1 in Massachusetts. The Cannabis Control Commission is pushing to write a first draft of new rules permitting the legal sale of marijuana in Massachusetts by the end of the year, setting up a frenetic month that will shape the recreational pot industry. The commission announced Tuesday that it plans to file initial regulations by Dec. 29. Among numerous details, they will spell out the criteria for winning dispensary licenses, rules for marijuana consumption bars, and a plan for ensuring diversity in the industry. [continues 379 words]
BOSTON - Genuine debate on marijuana policy and how the legal pot industry should look in Massachusetts is likely coming from the Cannabis Control Commission during the middle two weeks of December, which are shaping up to be the CCC's busiest yet as the agency tries to file the first draft of its regulations by Dec. 29. The CCC has tentatively penciled in public meetings for policy discussion and debate on the draft regulations each day of the week of Dec. 11, chairman Steven Hoffman said Tuesday. The following week will begin with three days of private stakeholder meetings and then at least one public meeting for the CCC to vote on acceptance of the draft regulations. [continues 834 words]
To the editor: Last March, I wrote Congressman Seth Moulton asking him to become a co-sponsor of H.R. 975, the "Respect State Marijuana Laws Act." He responded that, "The federal government ought to respect the will of the voters in states like Massachusetts, Colorado and Washington that have approved marijuana legalization." Yet, instead of signing on as a co-sponsor, he chooses to leave federal enforcement up to Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Mr. Sessions understands the proper roles of Congress and his office. He stated at his confirmation hearing, "I think one obvious concern is that the United States Congress made the possession of marijuana in every state and the distribution of it an illegal act. If that's something that's not desired any longer, Congress should pass a law to change the rule. It is not the attorney general's job to decide what laws to enforce. We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able." By "able" he is referring to budgetary constraints of attempting to enforce federal prohibition of a plant that grows in every state. Mr. Moulton, leaders lead. Get off the fence and sponsor the legislation. Steven S. Epstein West Street Georgetown [end]
Help wanted: Pot inspector. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources posted a listing on the state's career site Friday for an agricultural inspector who will specialize in a new crop in Massachusetts: cannabis. "This Inspector position will enforce the laws and regulations involving hemp and overlapping laws and regulations that impact the cultivation of marijuana," the listing says. Other duties of the job include providing "education and outreach to stakeholders relative to the enforcement of pertinent laws and regulations," and reporting and summarizing inspections, the listing says. [continues 219 words]
Organizers of the Cannabis World Congress & Business Exposition say they expect more than 2,000 people at the event Thursday and Friday at the John B. Hynes Convention Center in Boston. It's the first time this particular exposition has come to town. The organizers also held events this year in New York and Los Angeles. "We are planting our flag here," said Dan Humiston, an organizer of the show. "We anticipate the New England area is going to be the next big market for the industry. All the tea leaves say this part of the country will take off." [continues 470 words]
BOSTON - As he prepares an immediate budget request for this fiscal year and his agency's budget request for its first full year in existence, the chairman of the Cannabis Control Commission has been meeting with lawmakers and expects to have an estimate of the CCC's fiscal needs within two weeks. Chairman Steven Hoffman said he's already held about a half-dozen meetings with state lawmakers and expects to hold another six or seven. The topic of funding for the fledgling CCC, which was not a hot topic of debate in the Legislature during debate on pot taxes, comes up "every single time," he said. [continues 579 words]
Members of the Mass. State Police performed a sobriety test on a driver in Chicopee in 2011. The state's highest court on Tuesday limited which evidence can be used in court to prosecute drivers suspected of operating under the influence of marijuana, handing a victory to civil rights advocates in a closely-watched case. Under a unanimous ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court, Massachusetts police officers can no longer cite their subjective on-scene observations or sobriety tests to conclude in court testimony that a driver was under the influence of marijuana. [continues 729 words]
The Boston Freedom Rally was on Boston Common on Saturday. Thousands of people are expected to flock to Boston Common this weekend for the 28th annual Boston Freedom Rally - the first time the marijuana festival has been held since voters approved a ballot referendum last November legalizing the drug for recreational use. As of Saturday morning, about 7,400 people indicated on Facebook that they plan to go to the rally, organized by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. The festival, which began Friday, is scheduled to be held from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday according to its Facebook page. [continues 126 words]
Attendees of the annual marijuana "Freedom Rally" on Boston Common laughed during last year's event. For more stories on the marijuana industry, sign up for our newsletter, This Week in Weed. The administration of Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is expected to green-light the 28th annual marijuana "Freedom Rally" on Boston Common in September, a year after organizers of the smoky, weekend-long bash had to sue the city to get a permit. This year's incarnation of the long-running celebration of cannabis culture, which draws thousands of marijuana enthusiasts, is scheduled to begin Sept. 15. It will be the first to take place since voters legalized recreational use of the drug last November. [continues 453 words]
BOSTON -- Marijuana legalization opponents will outnumber supporters four to one on the new commission that will spearhead the state's efforts to get a legal marijuana industry up and running by next summer and then regulate the newly legal market. Attorney General Maura Healey on Friday appointed Britte McBride, a lawyer with experience working for the attorney general's office, the state Senate and the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, to the newly minted Cannabis Control Commission, and joined Gov. Charlie Baker and Treasurer Deborah Goldberg in agreeing on two picks to round out the five-person panel. [continues 748 words]
Steven Hoffman, a veteran corporate executive and consultant, was named the chair of the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, the newly created agency that will usher in an era of legal marijuana use. The appointment Thursday by state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg makes Hoffman, a 63-year-old Lincoln resident, the state's top marijuana regulator. He will hire the commission's executive director and other staff, and oversee the writing of new rules to govern marijuana cultivators, processors, and both medical and recreational dispensaries. [continues 372 words]
A Wrentham church has launched an unusual campaign to raise awareness of the toll opioid abuse has taken in Massachusetts. Signs marked "#2069" - the number of opioid-related deaths reported statewide for 2016 - have shown up in yards around the region thanks to the efforts of Trinity Episcopal Church. The Rev. Ron Tibbetts said he was the first to admit "we at Trinity Church were unaware of the crisis." Then, the church's outreach committee met with the S.A.F.E. Coalition, a Franklin-based group that deals with substance abuse issues. [continues 294 words]
Seeking to crack down on the suppliers behind the state's lethal opioid crisis, Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday filed a broad legislative package that would create a new manslaughter charge for drug dealers whose product causes a death. Under Baker's plan, dealers would face a mandatory minimum of five years for selling any drugs that result in a fatality. "When illegal drug distribution causes a death, laws that were designed to punish the act are inadequate to recognize the seriousness of the resulting harm," Baker wrote in a letter to state lawmakers in support of the legislation. "In order to ensure that accountability, this legislation establishes enhanced penalties that directly target those who cause death by illegally selling drugs." [continues 832 words]
An arm of the White House's anti-drug office has asked Massachusetts and several other states where medical marijuana is legal to turn over information about their registered patients, triggering a debate over privacy rights and whether state officials should cooperate with a federal administration that appears hostile to the drug. Dale Quigley, deputy coordinator of the National Marijuana Initiative, or NMI, has asked Massachusetts health officials for demographic data on the age, gender, and medical condition of the state's approximately 40,000 registered medical marijuana patients. Quigley is a former police officer in Colorado with a long history of speaking out against legalization. [continues 952 words]
DENVER - Many college students will tell you that making pot brownies is easy - just sprinkle a little marijuana into a pan of melting butter, then follow the instructions on the back of the Duncan Hines box. But marijuana entrepreneurs in this center of cannabis innovation face a much higher bar. They have no trouble dreaming up creative treats and concoctions infused with psychoactive THC, but meeting hundreds of pages of health and safety regulations means their imagination is handcuffed. And for good reason: the rules demand precise dosing, uniform potency, and warning symbols imprinted on the food itself. [continues 1148 words]
Inside Massachusetts
