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  Marijuana Study Leader is Against Legalization 

Posted by CN Staff on March 20, 2016 at 18:43:00 PT
By Joshua Miller, Globe Staff  
Source: Boston Globe 

Massacheutts -- 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.
“I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take,” the Winchester Democrat said.Lewis, a onetime McKinsey & Co. consultant, laid out a wide-ranging case against the measure, arguments that could serve as a template for the opposition. And, as the debate heats up, it could vault the professorial legislator to a much more public role.The proposed law would make possessing, using, and giving away 1 ounce or less of recreational marijuana legal for adults 21 and older as of Dec. 15, and it would allow retail sales to commence in January 2018.Advocates say it would quickly begin to phase out the black market: ending more than a century of failed prohibition that has ensnared otherwise law-abiding citizens in the criminal justice system; diverting money from criminal syndicates to companies operating on the up and up; filling the state’s coffers with new tax dollars; and improving the health and safety of children by moving marijuana sales from the street to licensed stores that check IDs.“We’re proposing a comprehensive, tightly regulated solution to the vast criminal enterprise that has flourished under a system that bans a substance less toxic, less addictive and less dangerous than alcohol,” said Jim Borghesani, a spokesman for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol in Massachusetts, which is backing the ballot effort.“Our opponents are offering stale, alarmist arguments that essentially preserve that failed system,” he added.But Lewis, 47, said legalization may boost the accessibility of marijuana for youth and increase the perception among kids that pot is safe to use.And he indicated that some worries about the Massachusetts criminal justice system are unfounded. He said criminal penalties for marijuana possession of an ounce or less have already been replaced with a system of civil penalties. And for most adults who use pot casually, there aren’t any criminal sanctions.“Virtually nobody is actually being arrested and going to jail for marijuana use,” he said, adding that as best as his staff can tell, fewer than 10 people a year are incarcerated for possession of more than an ounce of pot, and most of those people are getting locked up for another offense.The special Senate committee’s report did not explicitly endorse or reject the legalization proposal. But it did raise numerous concerns about how it would play out in Massachusetts, and suggested ways for the Legislature to temper the question, should it become law.While emphasizing that he’s not opposed to legalization in theory, Lewis laid out five reasons why Massachusetts is not ready.First, the senator said in a State House interview, there has been a “most alarming” decline in young people’s perception of the harm of marijuana. He cited data from a federally funded study. It shows a national drop in the percentage of 12th-graders who think people greatly risk harming themselves physically or in other ways if they smoke marijuana regularly: from 65 percent in 1994 to 36 percent in 2014.Lewis said that before legalization, there must be a strong and sustained statewide public education campaign that lets young people know marijuana is not safe for them to use.Second, the state doesn’t have a clear metric or clear protocols for when someone is too impaired by marijuana to drive safely, he said. There is no marijuana equivalent to the legal prohibition of driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or greater. That should change before legalization, to ensure police have the tools to keep the public safe, Lewis posited.Third, after years of troubled state oversight, Massachusetts has, more or less, just finished implementing a 2012 referendum that legalized marijuana for medical use.Lewis said the state should “get medical right first,” before legalizing recreational use. The first medical marijuana dispensary opened in June 2015. And while there are six medical dispensaries open now, some have run into supply problems.Fourth, before legalization, the state should gather detailed baseline data on marijuana use so that changes after legalization could be accurately measured, Lewis said.And fifth, he said, Massachusetts should wait for federal law to be eased. Marijuana remains prohibited under federal statute, creating a raft of complications for the legal marijuana industry in places like Colorado.The proposed Massachusetts law would create a “Cannabis Control Commission,” with members appointed by the state treasurer to oversee marijuana stores, cultivation facilities, testing facilities, and manufacturers of edible products like pot-infused cookies.The measure would impose a 3.75 percent excise tax on retail marijuana sales, in addition to the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax — and it would allow cities and towns to levy an additional 2 percent tax that the municipalities could keep.One of the ideas behind the measure backed by the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol in Massachusetts is to create a framework for a regulated and taxed industry to safely blossom.But Lewis, who described himself as a “Harvard Business School grad and someone who is a capitalist,” said that the incentives of the US economic system don’t work when it comes to a recreational marijuana industry.“The fiduciary responsibility for a for-profit company is to generate as much profit as possible for a company’s shareholders, whether that’s a private company, for the owners, or whether it’s a public company,” Lewis said.“The problem is: That is in direct conflict with, overall, what’s best for society in terms of public health and public safety when you’re talking about things like marijuana.”Lewis argued that the marijuana industry, like the tobacco industry before it, will seek to expand its business by getting new customers and increasing how much product existing customers use — to the detriment of the public good.The senator floated the idea of other potential systems — setting up state-run shops similar to New Hampshire’s liquor stores, for instance, which he said would not have the same intensity of profit incentive.Lewis, who is married and has 13- and 16-year-old daughters, said being a father plays into his views:“Their health, their safety, their happiness — there’s nothing more important.”And there are signs that Lewis could play a bigger role in the public discussion of the ballot push, which is opposed by major state political figures such as Governor Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey, and Mayor Martin J. Walsh of Boston.Baker, a Republican, said in a prepared statement that he is grateful to Lewis and his colleagues for their work on the issue.“I look forward,” Baker said, “to supporting the senator and others in their public education efforts.”Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author: Joshua Miller, Globe Staff Published: March 20, 2016Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/NcTGaIUKCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 

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Comment #5 posted by Oleg the Tumor on March 22, 2016 at 07:20:59 PT
The wide-ranging case against the measure in toto 
"Lewis, 47, said legalization may boost the accessibility of marijuana for youth and increase the perception among kids that pot is safe to use."That's it? That's THE wide-ranging case? No other points to check off? How lame!It sounds more like a rehashed opinion that has long since proven bogus. No one really thinks that cigarettes are "safe" because they are "legal". But pot can't be legal until it is safe? Is that the idea? Good Luck with that. Whatever happened to the idea of an "oil substitute"?We hear a lot about "alternative energy", meaning solar and wind, but not so much about replacing the hydrocarbon sources that are messing up the air, sea and land.... but if you are heavily invested in Oil, for-profit prisons (REIT) or Big Pharma, then you probably want nothing to do legalizing cannabis or anything else.FREE THE PRISONER OF SCHEDULE ONE! 
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Comment #3 posted by Sam Adams on March 20, 2016 at 22:37:49 PT

report
why do you think this report and media push is coming out now, 8 months before the election - 6 months before campaign season. These guys know they're going to lose bad. But they're being paid good cash money to rail against MJ legalization.  Solution - put the report out now, and hope that people forget you were associated with opposing this referendum when it passes by 65%.  And then you still collect your paycheck from Pharma/LEO industry.I actually pay this newspaper A LOT of money - I think it costs me $60 per month to get it.  I can't believe I'm paying to be told this guy was "strictly neutral". Are you kidding. He's been one of the biggest prohibitionist legislators for many years.  He was never neutral - he just faked it for a few months so he could travel around and talk to people with being told to go F*** himself!!!The Public Health chairman in this state house has always fought bitterly against reform - especially medical MJ reform. 3 or 4 of them in a row killed medMJ bills with 85% public support over the last 15 years. I assume they're just employees of Big Pharma. 
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Comment #2 posted by observer on March 20, 2016 at 21:37:04 PT

Jailing Adults for Pot, for the Children and Stuff
re: He cited data from a federally funded study. It shows a national drop in the percentage of 12th-graders who think people greatly risk harming themselves physically or in other ways if they smoke marijuana regularly: from 65 percent in 1994 to 36 percent in 2014.In other words, the HS seniors told the truth, because people do not greatly risk harming themselves physically or in other ways if they smoke marijuana regularly.Even if the high school seniors were somehow misled by legalization into thinking pot was this or that (they weren't but say they were), such misunderstanding by youth would still be no reason to arrest and jail adults.Prohibitionists are desperate liars, and are not above telling people whatever might alarm them, true or not. Asking people to keep jailing each other over pot - because otherwise children might be confused - doesn't pass the straight face test. It is desperate bunk. The only reason that kind of drug war hogwash flies, is because with a controlled mainstream (mockingbird/Wurlitzer) media, they pretend it makes sense. They were brought up on straight propaganda. For most of their MSM "I'm a journalist!" careers, if they pointed out a drug war lie in the MSM they'd be fired faster than you can say "DEA". Why should adults be jailed because kids might misunderstand? In no other area of life are adults held forever hostage to (what government asserts) are the errors of children. None. But if most people, certainly if the MSM keeps a straight face when they spout absurdities, then the herd never notices. Remember the classic Asch conformity experiments? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments People will believe (or say they believe) the crowd, not their lying eyes and not their false experiences. And that is for the really obvious stuff (the length of three sticks).re: But Lewis, who described himself as a “Harvard Business School grad and someone who is a capitalist,”...Sure he is. A capitalist who goes all Stalinist and totalitarian when is comes to the cannabis plant. re: "said that the incentives of the US economic system don’t work when it comes to a recreational marijuana industry.Utterly wrong, as we've watched the "incentives of the US economic system" work extremely well in Colorado etc. Colorado puts the lie to Lewis' twaddle. re: “The problem is: That is in direct conflict with, overall, what’s best for society in terms of public health and public safety when you’re talking about things like marijuana.”Of course, who better than Lewis to decide for everyone else what serves public safety "overall". Omniscient overseers, infallible Harvard government-paid experts: I think I'm getting getting the picture. Since he's a government Harvard expert Senator, he must really know best about what is appropriate, correct, and fitting (jail) for people who grow, sell, and use cannabis - right? re: Lewis, who is married and has 13- and 16-year-old daughters, said being a father plays into his views: “Their health, their safety, their happiness — there’s nothing more important.”Right ... think of the children. We're only arresting and jailing adults for pot, for the children. What a crock. Hopefully the voters will ignore his government-serving advice and stop jailing each other over cannabis, even in Massachusetts. 
http://drugnewsbot.org
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on March 20, 2016 at 21:16:34 PT

End MASS insanity.
STOP FORCING BLACK MARKET REGULATING CANNABIS: FORCE GOVERNMENT TO DO THEIR JOB.Sounds and looks like what Colorado went through. Colorado heard it all before and voted.-0-Cannabis is being grown, sold, used etc. all regulated either way.& every (100%) subsequent poll indicates the majority of Colorado voters continue supporting the end of cannabis prohibition.
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