Legalizing recreational marijuana divides users, experts

Brian Lee
Telegram & Gazette Staff

Telegram & Gazette Staff
Nov. 8 will be a critical juncture for U.S. marijuana laws, with five states to consider legalization of recreational use.

Giuliano D’Orazio, 24, of Worcester, said he'll vote in favor of the Massachusetts ballot question, which will ask Bay State voters to decide if use, growth and possession of amounts of marijuana should be legal for anyone 21 and older, effective Dec. 15.

Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington state and District of Columbia have already legalized marijuana for recreational use.

Mr. D'Orazio's position isn’t a surprise to anyone who knows the self-employed musician, who has performed in a pot-leafed blazer and has smoked marijuana since his college days in Boston, where he said it wasn't out of the ordinary for him to smoke weed as he walked Commonwealth Avenue or Boylston Street.

Mr. D'Orazio, who says he has never been arrested, said smoking marijuana hasn't made him want to do harder drugs, and he notes that researchers have challenged the “gateway drug” notion that persists.

“There’s a huge problem with addiction in general, and if somebody is an addict, it seems to me that they’re going to do whatever it takes to get that high that they’re looking for, that escape,” he said.
“Yes, there are going to be a lot of people who want to take harder drugs that are of course going to start by using pot,” he said. “But by the same token alcohol or cigarettes are also a gateway, and really I think that cannabis has become a scapegoat for the entire war on drugs.”

The marijuana advocate said he's speaking out for like-minded smokers who might not be able to talk as freely about their endorsement of Question 4, because of their 9-to-5 existences and the stigma that smoking pot is taboo.

Should the ballot measure pass, as polls suggest, Mr. D'Orazio said he looks forward to growing his own product rather than purchasing it from a retailer.

He added, "No matter what anybody’s personal position might be, it’s pretty obvious that the prohibition doesn’t work, just by the simple fact that so many people I personally know and who I interact with on a daily basis are cannabis users."


But State Rep. Peter J. Durant, one of the more than 100 Massachusetts legislators who oppose the initiative, said he believes that marijuana is a gateway drug. Moreover, the Spencer Republican said he doesn’t agree that it can be regulated like alcohol, nor does he think the taxing structure will be able to keep up with the cost to administer the legal marijuana initiative.

Mr. Durant also suggests marijuana is “de facto legal” in Massachusetts in that it is a noncriminal offense to possess small amounts, and it can be obtained for medical purposes. There isn’t a need to do more, he said.

Under the proposed new law, people could possess less than 10 ounces of marijuana inside their homes, less than one ounce in public, and grow up to six marijuana plants in their homes.
The measure would create a Cannabis Control Commission, a regulatory body that would oversee marijuana legalization and issue licenses to companies that want to sell pot products.

Retail marijuana would be subject to state sales tax with an additional 3.75 percent excise tax. A local municipality could add a 2 percent tax. Revenue from excise taxes, license application fees and fines for minor violations would be placed in a fund, which would help pay administrative costs of the new law.

Charles J. Faris, president and CEO of Spectrum Health Systems, Inc., which is working with the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, which was grown out of the governor's office and opposes the ballot question, said the group aims to get more vocal in the coming weeks.

"Voters just don’t realize the depth and breadth of what this is going to cause," he said.

Mr. Faris acknowledged that proponents of marijuana argue there’s no scientific evidence pointing to marijuana as a gateway drug.

But "speak to anyone who’s in recovery from drug addiction," he said, "and the vast majority will tell you that they started by smoking marijuana."

Worcester County Sheriff Lewis Evangelidis echoed the sentiment. In fact, the Massachusetts Sheriffs' Association, which is rarely unified on an issue, according to Mr. Evangelidis, unanimously opposes Question 4.

There are approximately 1,200 inmates at the West Boylston jail, of which 90 percent are present for substance abuse issues.

Opioids are the driving force, he said. "But what you do find when you talk to inmates is that marijuana was a gateway drug for probably the majority of people in our facility who have drug addiction problems."

Mr. Faris of Spectrum Health Systems adds that smoking pot is only about half of the market to be shaped if the ballot question passes.

The other half, the edibles market, will sell THC-laden candy, "Pot Tarts," ice cream and other foods that target kids, Mr. Faris said. The THC levels in some of those products can be much higher than that of a marijuana plant, he said.

There's also a concern, Mr. Faris said, that a new black market would be created through the allowance of homegrown marijuana, either on the street or on Craigslist. Mr. Faris said that is occurring in Colorado, where it’s been legal for adults to buy marijuana for recreational use in 2014.
Mr. Faris said he's also concerned about impaired driving, as there's no ability to test for someone under the influence of marijuana as there is with alcohol blood or breath testing. He notes that the number of traffic deaths linked to marijuana-impaired driving doubled the year after Washington state legalized marijuana in July 2014.

It's also difficult to prosecute someone under the influence of marijuana, Mr. Faris said.
But Question 4 proponent Michael Milburn, a professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, said he created a mobile device app for the iPad that can test a person's impairment from marijuana. Versions for the iPhone should be available soon, followed by an Android version.

Mr. Milburn said he created the app to save lives and is more than willing to work with law enforcement. But he noted another motivator was that he grew “incensed" by an opinion piece co-written by Gov. Charlie Baker, Attorney General Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

Mr. Milburn said there is no comparable level of THC in blood like there is with blood-alcohol content. THC in blood can stay elevated for weeks and months, when there’s no impairment at all. And so it’s an illegitimate way to approach the problem of marijuana intoxication and driving, Mr. Milburn said.

The professor said the social justice aspect of marijuana laws being racist in their origin and implementation in the 1930s is one reason that compels him to vote yes on Question 4.
He cited an ACLU report, “The War on Marijuana in Black and White: A Massachusetts Update,” which points to FBI Uniform Crime statistics to show that in 2014 there were 616 marijuana possession arrests and 1,031 marijuana sales arrests in Massachusetts.

The marijuana possession arrest rate for African-Americans was 3.3 times higher than for whites despite similar usage rates, the report found.

The ACLU has said the report debunks claims of Yes on 4 opponents that social injustices ceased with the 2009 passage of decriminalization of an ounce or less of marijuana.

Mr. Milburn added that the main funders of opposition to legalization of marijuana around the country are "the big pharmaceutical companies" who don’t want marijuana to compete with their opioid drugs, and the alcohol beverage industry, which is fearful people will imbibe less if marijuana is legal. He added that the private prison industry is in lockstep with the prison guard unions who want to keep marijuana illegal. This keeps people going to jail so they don’t lose members of their union, he said.

Mr. Milburn said a number of compelling research studies suggest marijuana is an "exit drug" in that many medical marijuana consumers report using it as a substitute for prescription drugs, alcohol or an illicit substance.

"I would hope our elected officials would base their public policy prescription on solid evidence and legitimate reasoning, and the arguments against legalization of marijuana just fail on all those grounds," he said.