Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey sent a letter Thursday urging the Cannabis Control Commission to consider a more limited sale of recreational marijuana this summer as Massachusetts adapts to the new industry.
With her letter, Healey, along with 78 other Massachusetts legislators, along with Gov. Charlie Baker, spoke out against the commission’s draft proposals. The majority of the arguments were against potential mixed-use establishments and door-to-door sales.
The state is committed to keeping the industry’s beginning safe and successful, Healey wrote, and in order to do this, it must be done one step at a time.
Healey argued against mixed-use establishments because of the possibility of minors may use them to obtain access to marijuana. One of the requirement for any marijuana realtor is that ensures it will not sell to minors, she wrote.
“As drafted, the proposed regulations appear at odds with this requirement by contemplating that persons under 21 may be permitted on the premises of a mixed-use establishment either as a consumer or as an employee,” Healey wrote. “The draft regulations make some effort to address this issue by requiring that such an establishment ‘maintain procedure to ensure’ that marijuana consumption is limited to restricted areas.”
Healey cited similar reasons for opposing door-to-door sales.
“As a matter of enforcement, it is more difficult to ensure that employees are abiding by the rules and properly verifying the age of the consumer when transitions are scattered on doorsteps across the state, rather than at an identifiable retail establishment with security cameras and other checks in place,” Healey wrote.
Karl Hartwig, 51, of Jamaica Plain, said he is in favor of the legalization of recreational marijuana, but is worried about the public’s knowledge of associated health concerns.
“There shouldn’t be limits [on accessibility] … kind of how cigarettes have a warning on it for health concern,” Hartwig said. “I think everyone should be made aware of possible health concerns.”
Hartwig also said he expects the price of marijuana to drop after legalization.
“The price should be going down as it becomes legal,” he said. “It shouldn’t really be that much more expensive than cigarettes.”
Two notable legislators who did not sign the letters sent to the Cannabis Control Commission are Senate President Harriette Chandler and House Speaker Robert DeLeo.
Chandler said in a statement that the CCC should implement the new industry in a way that is measured and has public health and safety in mind.
Kevin Connor, Chandler’s press secretary, said that the senate president and the house speaker usually only sign letters that originate from their own offices, hence why they didn’t sign this one.
Jim Borghesani, a Massachusetts spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, described the letters as, “a coordinate intimidation campaign that threatens the independence” of the CCC. He said that this calls into questions the relationship between the administration and the legislature who regulates the industry.
“This is further evidence of a coordinated, calculated intimidation campaign against the Cannabis Control Commission, using near carbon-copy rhetoric,” Borghesani said. “It isn’t surprising that the same legislators who opposed Question 4 are joining the governor and attorney general in their coercion efforts. The orchestration of this campaign leaves little doubt that it is an overtly political action amid an election year.”
Kathy Kneeland, 59, of Roslindale, said she was aggravated by the amount of time these laws have taken to be implemented, and hopes the commission and government will be able to compromise on the regulations.
“The Massachusetts government or politicians do need to respect the fact that they put the commission in place,” Kneeland said. “They chose people that they felt were good candidates for those jobs. This is a much larger issue, we have lost the ability to debate and communicate and compromise. I think if nothing else, as an example of good compromising they should strive to meet in the middle.”
Mike Patterson, 53, of South End, said he thinks the legalization of recreational marijuana will be helpful for patients who could benefit from its use but had difficulty obtaining the proper documentation from their doctors.
“It should make it easier for the people who really need it to calm their nerves or help with anxiety,” Patterson said. “I think it can be really good for helping people, helping the industry and helping Boston to grow.”
The Cannabis Control Commission declined to comment on this matter, stating that final regulations will be released by Mar. 15, 2018.
Hannah Schoenbaum contributed to the reporting of this article.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated Kevin Connor wrote to The Daily Free Press in an email, when he was actually interviewed over the phone. An updated version reflects this correction.
