Rep. Donato: Vote ‘No’ on Question 4
In the past two election cycles, Massachusetts has already decriminalized marijuana so that no one will go to jail for possessing usage amounts. We have also legalized medical marijuana so that people have access to it for health purposes.
Now, the marijuana industry wants us to pass Question 4 to legalize commercial marijuana this fall. This is no longer about allowing someone to smoke a joint. It is about creating a billion-dollar marijuana industry in Massachusetts.
There is an unprecedented, bi-partisan coalition of community leaders who believe that Question 4 is the wrong proposal at the wrong time for Massachusetts. Here’s why.
Commercial marijuana means an influx of pot edibles. Question 4 authorizes marijuana edible products like candies, cookies and soda to be promoted and sold in our state. The highly potent edibles account for almost 50 percent of the sales in Colorado, one of the states that has legalized marijuana. There simply is no benefit, particularly for our kids, to allowing these dangerous products to be promoted and made more available for public use.
Question 4 also was written largely by the marijuana industry, and after the first year sets no limits on how many pot shops can open in Massachusetts. In Colorado, that resulted in more pot shops than McDonald’s and Starbucks combined. There is no reason to think that would not happen here.
Question 4 will open the way for a new black market to emerge by allowing people to grow thousands of dollars of marijuana in their homes, even if their neighbors object. And in states that have legalized, we’ve seen the industry disproportionately target poorer neighborhoods.
Finally, at a time when we are dealing with an addiction crisis, it will send a highly mixed message for our kids to allow the marijuana industry to come in and market and sell their products.
That is why I urge voters to reject the commercial marijuana industry’s proposal and vote no on Question 4.
Paul Donato is State Representative for Medford/Malden and a Steering Committee Member of the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts. For more information, please visit http://www.safeandhealthyma.com/ or on twitter at @safehealthyma
Please don’t listen to this man. Do your own research before going to the polls and see how voting Yes on 4 will help communities. As a MMJ patient I’ve been to the few medical dispensaries in MA and have seen how secure and out of the public eye they are. You need two forms of ID to enter (MA State/MMJ Card) so it’s impossible for children to get in or even see the products being sold. (Not to mention everything is sold in childproof containers). There’s no blatant advertising. I can’t say the same about the Bud Light signs I see in many liquor/corner stores.
Recreational marijuana will be the same. This is not a “new black market” but a tightly regulated system which will create jobs and keep non-violent offenders out of prison. And it will put otherwise unregulated money from dealers back into community programs.
How about his for a message to children: Marijuana is safer than alcohol. And no one has died from smoking/ingesting too much marijuana. Doctors should be able to prescribe it willingly without fear of prosecution. And patients shouldn’t be dying from habit forming opiates.
Vote YES on 4
Good essay, Paul Donato. I’ve lost so many friends and colleagues to drugs and have watched them destroy themselves. They would joke that I go to a church that frowns on drug use. Only an immature person with low self image would need to indulge in something that scrambles the brain. Our State Rep has his mojo back. Marijuana is a gateway drug. In the past it was a huge component of the rock and roll lifestyle and the homosexual lifestyle and, thankfully, people have seen the devastating effect drugs have on people who can’t even handle alcohol. It is no longer cool in the rock scene and in the gay lifestyle to light up a joint. Thank God. I’m with Mr. Donato on this, Vote NO on 4. Toby, I’m publishing my name, if you are so convinced of your position, why are you in hiding about it?
Joe, I’m sorry you’ve lost so many friends to marijuana. That’s what you mean, right?
Did you just try to link homosexuality to marijuana use? Wow. You also appear to be pretty in touch with the gay/rock and roll lifestyle to know it’s not cool anymore to smoke a joint. That’s good.
“…can’t even handle alcohol” — why is alcohol any different? I associate alcohol more with the “rock and roll lifestyle” than anything else! Alcohol is a poison that can kill you, marijuana cannot. People prefer marijuana because they “can’t handle alcohol.”
Joe, if you’re so convinced of your position, it’s time to hide from all those damn dope smoking rock and roll gays!
Oh also it’s legal on 12/14.
As someone who works in one of the nigh-on a thousand wine and liquor shops in the greater Medford/Somerville/Cambridge area, the ‘think about the children’ arguments always seem a little hysterical – we have controls in place, we talk to kids, some of them get to it a little early, most don’t. And marijuana is much, much, much safer than alcohol, by any conceivable measure.
We’re depriving the state of revenue, and jobs, and our medical community of an incredibly valuable tool in pain management – all out of fear. Let’s remove marijuana as a burden on our police force and court system, as a money maker for our prisons, and get on with our lives. Vote Yes on 4.
I sign my name. Who are you? Drugs are used by people with low self image to mask their fear and guilt. We pray for them