Groups seeking to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Massachusetts filed petition signatures Wednesday to place certified questions on the upcoming 2016 election ballot.
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol and Bay State Repeal seek to make 21 the legal age to obtain, use and sell marijuana.
Bill Downing, treasurer of Bay State Repeal, said that the government intrudes on private lives in order to enforce the prohibition of marijuana, which he finds “unreasonable.”
“It is a healthy, green plant that has good benefits when used as an alternative to alcohol or prescription drugs,” Downing said.
The petition would not set a limit on the amount of marijuana that could be bought or grown in residents’ homes, Downing said.
Bay State Repeal’s most substantial effort to collect signatures was at the Boston Freedom Rally in late September, Downing said. Acquiring signatures for Bay State Repeal is entirely volunteer-based, he said.
In order for each question to be put on the November 2016 ballot, both groups had to collect 64,750 signatures of registered voters in Massachusetts, said Will Luzier, campaign manager for the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.
To oversee the proper use of recreational marijuana, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol seeks to establish a commission and cannabis advisory board, according to the group’s drafted initiative .
Luzier argues that Massachusetts voters may not be ready for the “new experiment” of recreational marijuana use without having regulations in place.
“They are interested in looking at what Colorado, Washington and Oregon have done and improving on those models,” Luzier said. “They are not interested in a whole new direction with much less regulation.”
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker does not support legalization, but he signed a petition to put the issue on the ballot during a WGBH radio show in October.
“I did think about this and then I decided that if I really did believe in this process I should sign these things, so I’m going to sign them,” Baker said on air.
While Downing said the two groups are disinclined to work with one another, if one petition moves forward, supporters from the other group will join them.
“If we don’t have enough signatures there is no other choice,” Downing said. “We want to see legalization, one way or the other.”
Once the petitions containing the signatures are verified, they will be reviewed by the Secretary of State’s office starting Dec. 2, Luzier said. Two weeks later each campaign will be notified if they have obtained the appropriate amount of registered voters’ signatures.
While some Boston residents said they are opposed to the idea of legalizing marijuana, others felt that it would not present a problem.
“I don’t think it would be a problem to legalize marijuana because it’s pretty open in this city anyway,” said Sarah Jung, 29, of Fenway.
Driton Krasniqi, 24, of Brighton, said marijuana should be legalized and decriminalized.
“It should be decriminalized so that penalties aren’t as harsh for those who do have it or do use it,” he said. “Legalization, I’m not opposed to either, but there’s a lot of other stuff that maybe people don’t think about when they think about legalization, like how you regulate it once that happens.”
Carolyn Hoffman contributed to the reporting of this article.
I just want to ask one thing, Other than that we say so, Can you explain the criminality of lighting a marijuana cigarette putting it up to his or her mouth and inhaling and enjoying the effects. I smoke cigarettes (Tobacco) I do so in the pursuit of my happiness. I smoke outside where it does not effect anyone else. I believe that marijuana is the same. the only thing That i want to see, that it is kept out of the hands of minors and not used in a place that would interfere with other people space that don’t want it near them. thus interfering with their pursuits of happiness in their lives.
Do these activists not understand that marijuana is FEDERALLY prohibited? Trying to repeal the ban at the state level is no different from Kim Davis denying gay couples marriage licenses in defiance of the Supreme Court.