Ask State Leaders to Fix Marijuana Law.eml

From: Massachusetts Municipal Association [alerts@mma.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2016 10:50 AM
To: mayor@boston.gov
Subject: Ask State Leaders to Fix Marijuana Law
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Wednesday, December 7, 2016

MMA ASKS STATE LEADERS TO FIX FLAWS IN THE NEW
COMMERCIAL MARIJUANA LAW
As Written, Question 4 Overrides Local Authority, Offers Too
Little Revenue to Offset Regulatory Costs, and Raises Public
Safety & Community Development Concerns
Please Call Your Representatives & Senators and Ask Them
to Protect Local Control and Community Concerns
With the passage of Question 4, Massachusetts became one of just eight states that have
legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Because of our population and our prime
location in the center of a compact geographic region, our state will soon become the
commercial marijuana industry’s east coast base.
Cities and towns have a responsibility to ensure that the new law is implemented locally
in a manner that protects the public interest, including addressing public health and
public safety concerns, and ensuring that the roll-out does not negatively impact
residents, other businesses, neighborhoods, economic development plans, or other
important considerations. As such, municipal officials are scrambling to get information
and plan their own policy responses. This will be very difficult in the short term, as there
are many unanswered questions and many significant flaws in the new law.
While there are many smaller details that warrant attention, the major problems that must
be fixed are:
1. deadlines that are far too short and give state and local officials inadequate time to
prepare for and administer the law;
2. the preemption and loss of local control;
3. the unregulated “home grow” provisions that could foster a new black market for
marijuana sales; and
4. the inadequate tax revenues written into the statute.
Please click here to read the MMA’s detailed letter to the Governor and
state lawmakers outlining the flaws in the new commercial marijuana law.
It is important to recognize that Question 4 prevailed and the issue of whether or not to
legalize the recreational use of marijuana has been settled. Yet it is also clear that the new
law has several significant drafting flaws that require fixing in order to prevent negative

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 Ask State Leaders to Fix Marijuana Law.eml

outcomes. Just as the Legislature and Governor acted in 1981 to amend Proposition 2½
to make it workable, it is both appropriate and necessary for state lawmakers to take
action to address the shortcomings in Question 4. Doing so is in the public interest.
Please call your Representatives and Senators today to let them know
that this issue is important to your community, and ask them to delay
implementation of Question 4 until the problems with the new law can be
fixed.
If you have any questions about the new commercial marijuana law or the implications
for cities and towns, please contact the MMA’s legislative staff (you can ask for MMA
Legislative Analyst David Lakeman at 617-426-7272 or dlakeman@mma.org).

Thank You!
Massachusetts Municipal Association
One Winthrop Square, Boston, MA 02110
(617) 426-7272
All contents copyright 2015, Massachusetts Municipal Association
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