2016 ballot initiative would legalize marijuana
A proposed 2016 ballot law would allow adults 21 and older in Massachusetts to legally possess up to one ounce of marijuana and authorize marijuana retail outlets, and cultivation and testing facilities, according to sponsors of the proposal.
According to the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which plans to file its initiative petition language on Wednesday, retail marijuana sales would include a 3.75 percent state excise tax in addition to the 6.25 percent sales tax, and local governments would have the option of establishing an additional local sales tax of 2 percent while imposing limits on the number of retail outlets within local borders.
The ballot question would allow people to grow a "limited number" of marijuana plants in their homes, and the marijuana industry would be regulated by a commission that ballot activists say would be similar to the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission, which is under the state treasurer's office.
"Next year, voters will have the opportunity to end the failed policy of prohibition and replace it with a more sensible system," campaign director Will Luzier, a former assistant attorney general, said in a statement. "Marijuana is significantly less harmful than alcohol, and our laws should reflect that."
The proposal faces opposition from Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh. In March, Healey said that Washington and Colorado, where voters passed marijuana legalization laws in 2012, have not seen a drop in drug trafficking and saw people from out of state purchase "vast amounts" of the drug to traffic it.
Healey said Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told her reduced prices on the black market keep underground drug dealers in business.
"Certainly they've seen some revenues and that was part of the motivation behind this, but at the end of the day they're seeing some real problems, particularly with the illegal drug and gun trafficking, because oftentimes guns go along with the drug trafficking there," Healey said.
Supporters of the measure plan a press conference at 1 p.m. Wednesday outside One Ashburton Place, before heading inside to file petition language with Healey's office. Wednesday is the deadline for submitting ballot question language to the attorney general's office.
Bay State Repeal, another group that has mobilized for a voter referendum on legalizing marijuana, has called for a "strong home-grow provision," along with moderate taxes and regulations that can drive out illegal sales.
"That has not happened in Colorado, but we want it in Massachusetts, so no cash-cow taxation or giant licensing fee," Bay State Repeal wrote on its website.
Marijuana activists have successfully used the initiative petition process to establish laws decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and authorizing the use of marijuana for certain medical conditions.
Legislative leaders have shown little interest in pro-actively engaging on marijuana legislation and if Healey certifies the initiative petition and activists gather required signatures, it will appear on the November 2016 ballot. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg said this week there's no momentum behind his idea of putting a non-binding marijuana question on the 2016 ballot.
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