President Trump is ill advised to expend resources to shutdown state legal marijuana businesses ("Pot plans moving forward despite toughtalk from Trump," Feb. 27). As Jacob Sullum points out in his column: "According to a recent Quinnipiac University survey, 59 percent of Americans think marijuana should be made legal in the United States," while 71 percent "oppose the government enforcing federal laws against marijuana in states that have already legalized medical or recreational marijuana." Among Republicans, only 35 percent favored legalization, but 55 percent opposed federal interference with it." Steven S. Epstein, Georgetown [end]
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." [continues 233 words]
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. [continues 392 words]
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." [continues 325 words]
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. [continues 218 words]
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. [continues 221 words]
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. [continues 262 words]
'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. [continues 293 words]
A new study shows marijuana poisoning in young children has risen 150 percent in Colorado since the substance was legalized in 2014 - a frightening statistic that has opponents of the Bay State legal marijuana ballot initiative warning that the same could happen in Massachusetts. "The edible products for the marijuana industry are a huge part of the profit and growth model," said Rep. Hannah Kane, of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts' steering committee. "Children are highly susceptible to these products." [continues 213 words]
WASHINGTON - The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 put marijuana in the category of the nation's most dangerous drugs, along with LSD, heroin and mescaline. That law might soon change. Suspense is mounting after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration missed its self-imposed June 30 deadline to decide whether to reschedule the drug and recognize its potential therapeutic value. Twenty-six states already have legalized its medical use. In 2011, Christine Gregoire, the former Democratic governor of Washington state, and Republican Lincoln Chafee, then the governor of Rhode Island, filed a 106-page petition with the DEA, arguing that the categorization of marijuana was "fundamentally wrong and should be changed." With the Obama administration adopting a policy to "just look the other way" in states with recreational marijuana, Gregoire said it would be hard for the DEA to justify keeping marijuana on the Schedule 1 list. [continues 56 words]
State Study Shows Path to Addiction At least two out of every three people who fatally overdosed in 2014 had been given an opioid prescription in the years prior, according to new state data, which officials say underscores the long-held theory that even legally prescribed painkillers can help push people toward a deadly addiction. "It certainly confirms what we believe," Marylou Sudders, the state's health and human services secretary, told the Herald yesterday. "It is significant, which is why we said we need to really focus on prescribing patterns, in getting drugs off the street - legal and illegal. ... Frankly we need to accelerate those efforts." [continues 350 words]
This week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is scheduled to announce an increase in the number of prescriptions doctors can write for Suboxone from 100 to 275 a year. Congress is considering legislation that would make further increases in the availability of the drug, used to treat addictions to heroin and other opioids. While the effectiveness of Suboxone (generically called buprenorphine) as a heroin treatment can be argued, there is no debate about it being a major problem for those of us who run correctional facilities. At the Norfolk County Correctional Center in Dedham, Suboxone is public enemy No. 1 when it comes to inmates trying to smuggle in contraband. [continues 293 words]
The state's highest court in its latest ruling took it upon itself to actually rewrite the title and the summary that will inform voters about the impact of a ballot question to legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in this state. Now, silly us, but you'd think if something needed that much rewriting to adequately explain it, well then maybe it shouldn't be on the ballot at all - that maybe something so flawed at the petition-signing stage should have to start from scratch. [continues 253 words]
Don't like the message? Well, for the folks behind a campaign to legalize the recreational use of marijuana the answer is just to shoot the messenger. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has filed a petty complaint with state campaign finance regulators, alleging that Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael violated state rules by appearing at an event sponsored by a group opposed to the pro-pot ballot question, in uniform and during work hours. The group alleges Carmichael broke the rules by engaging in political advocacy. And had he shown up at the June 23 event and explicitly called on voters to reject the November ballot question, maybe they'd have an argument. [continues 176 words]
State Supreme Court Mulls Marijuana Bill The state's highest court is mulling whether the proposal to legalize marijuana for recreational use should go up in smoke after a group of concerned voters said the language of the ballot measure is too vague to be constitutional - and opens the door to all kinds of hyper-potent pot products. "The voters were significantly misled when they were told that this was going to legalize marijuana," said John Scheft, an attorney representing the voters. "It's going to do much more, and wouldn't a fundamental question of any voter be: What are you asking me to legalize?" [continues 368 words]
There's no easy way to convict someone of being stoned while behind the wheel, and recent high-court decisions tied with patchwork sobriety tests have made things even tougher for state prosecutors. And it could be very difficult to prove that David Njuguna was high, as prosecutors say he was when he crashed into a state police cruiser in Charlton in March, killing trooper Thomas L. Clardy. Any defense attorney in the state would rather handle an OUI marijuana than a standard drunken driving case. Even before pot smokers are pulled over, they have more protections than someone who had one too many beers. [continues 358 words]
More drugs, more problems - it's as simple as that. If you legalize something, there's going to be more of it around. In the case of drugs, any drugs, that availability means more and more losers stumbling around stoned out of their minds, slackjawed enough to hurt innocent people, maybe even themselves, as a result. Innocent people, in this case, like trooper Thomas Clardy, his widow and their six now-fatherless children, ages 4 to 17. I'm pessimistic about the chances of stopping this marijuana-legalization question on the ballot in November. But if the voters are paying any attention whatsoever, this horrific crime in Charlton should certainly be a major issue for Big THC to have to defend. [continues 525 words]
Some local doctors are calling for more scientific evidence to back marijuana's medicinal value, and say close oversight is needed for pot dispensaries and prescribers to ensure that it does not get into the wrong hands. "I think there's a good place and time for use of marijuana," said Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett, a doctor at Boston Medical Center who specializes in integrative medicine. "But we haven't as a society and as a medical institution done enough to oversee how people are getting prescribed marijuana." [continues 221 words]
A Webster man was driving high on medical marijuana he had just bought at a Brookline dispensary when his car careened off the Massachusetts Turnpike, slamming into the back of a parked state police SUV and killing trooper Thomas L. Clardy, authorities said yesterday. David Njuguna "had an active THC level in his blood at the time of the collision," prosecutor Jeff Travers said after the 30-year-old pleaded not guilty in Worcester Superior Court to numerous charges in the March 16 crash, including manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide by negligence and motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of drugs. [continues 484 words]
Gov. Charlie Baker yesterday decried the "proliferation" of pot use and called on authorities to prosecute to the "fullest" extent of the law a Webster man accused of being high in a crash that killed a state trooper, sparking a renewed focus on the state's marijuana laws amid a heated debate on legalization. Police said David Njuguna was driving "impaired" after visiting a medical marijuana dispensary in Brookline and had a half-burnt marijuana cigarette in his car when he slammed into trooper Thomas L. Clardy's SUV in mid-March, killing the veteran officer. [continues 299 words]
