Why I ’ m voting against marijuana legalization in Massachusetts

I’m not dead set against the eventual legalization of marijuana for recreational use. Still, I’m strongly opposed to Massachusetts ballot question 4: Legalization,  regulation and taxation of marijuana, and will be voting No. Why? Because the arguments in favor of approval are not strong enough to make Massachusetts one of the first states to legalize. And some of the arguments against the ballot measure raise serious concerns. Instead I’d like to take five years or so to observe  how things go in early-legalization states like Colorado and Oregon and apply the lessons in Massachusetts. I thought Massachusetts did the right thing by de-criminalizing marijuana. That kept police and the courts from wasting resources on possession of small amounts of marijuana and stopped lives from being ruined through unfair imprisonment and the stigma of  a criminal record. Voters then went further and approved medical marijuana, which as I expected, became a precursor to the push for full legalization just a couple years later. The innovative Citizens’ Initiative Review Project summarized the pros and cons of Question 4. The strongest pros were as follows (quoted verbatim): Legalized and regulated marijuana is safer than black market marijuana because the legalized product will be tested and clearly labeled according to state regulations. Question 4 will create a large number of regulatory, law enforcement, legal, and licensure jobs that are supported by ...
Source: Health Business Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Policy and politics Uncategorized marijuana legalization Source Type: blogs