MMA Board votes to oppose recreational marijuana question

At its June 14 meeting, the MMA Board of Directors voted to oppose an initiative petition headed for the ballot this fall that would legalize the sale and use of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts.
 
The MMA Board unanimously supported a recommendation from the MMA’s Policy Committee on Municipal and Regional Administration to endorse the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts.
 
The initiative would legalize the sale and use of recreational marijuana by adults age 21 and over. Edible products (food and drink infused with THC) would be allowed and regulated.
 
To regulate the industry and promulgate regulations, the initiative would create a three-member Cannabis Control Commission, modeled after the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, as well as a 15-member Cannabis Advisory Board. The state treasurer’s office would appoint the CCC commissioners.
 
MMA Board and policy committee members expressed a number of concerns about the ballot question’s implications for local governments.
 
For example, the initiative would allow individuals to grow up to 12 marijuana plants, which would make it very difficult for law enforcement to identify illegal cultivation and could contribute to an unregulated black market. One plant can yield more than a pound of marijuana, worth almost $5,000. Law enforcement reports from Colorado suggest that home growing has become a cover for criminal operations that sell illegally out-of-state or online.
 
MMA members also expressed concerns about the initiative’s onerous “opt-out” process, which requires cities and towns to hold a costly referendum if local leaders want to limit the number of recreational marijuana sales facilities to less than 20 percent of the number of liquor licenses in the municipality.
 
Local officials also objected to the minimal revenue that would be generated by the industry-sponsored initiative: a 6.25 percent state sales tax, a 3.75 percent excise tax, and an optional 2 percent local tax. Colorado, meanwhile, assesses a 2.9 percent sales tax, a 10 percent retail marijuana special sales tax, and a 15 percent special excise tax. Ballot question opponents argue that the lower tax rates for Massachusetts would not provide sufficient revenue to cover the cost of administering and regulating the program, and would fall far short of the revenue gains seen in Colorado, leaving little extra (if any) for investment in other programs, such as education.
 
The MMA Board also discussed concerns about preemption of local health board regulations and zoning bylaws, regulation of “edibles,” and the murky legal status of recreational sellers and users under federal law.
 
Citing the current opioid epidemic, local officials that have been part of the MMA’s efforts on the issue felt great trepidation about taking a position on marijuana that could encourage drug use at a time when so many are struggling with more dangerous drug addictions.
 
The MMA Policy Committee on Municipal and Regional Administration met several times this spring to closely examine the potential municipal implications of the ballot proposal, review the recent report issued by the Senate Special Committee on Marijuana, and meet with advocates on both sides of the issue.
 
Making presentations to the MMA committee were Sen. Jason Lewis and Rep. Hannah Kane from the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts and Will Luzier and Jim Borghesani from the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
 
Massachusetts decriminalized possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in 2008 and legalized medical marijuana in 2012.
 
Voters will decide the recreational marijuana ballot question on Nov. 8.

The text and summaries of this [15-27] and other proposed ballot questions can be found on the attorney general’s website.