The ballot initiative

Allows adults to possess a limited amount of marijuana.

Creates a Cannabis Control Commission similar to the Alcoholic
Beverages Control Commission to regulate the industry.
Requires strict packaging, labeling, and marketing guidelines,
plus testing of all marijuana products.
Gives cities and towns the power to limit or prohibit the
operation of marijuana establishments.
Imposes a 3.75% excise tax + 6.25% sales tax + 2% local tax
(at the discretion of cities and towns) on all sales.
Makes no change to existing laws around public use or driving
under the influence both remain ILLEGAL.

Why is it time to tax and regulate

marijuana in Massachusetts?
A regulated, taxed system will be safer than what we have now
and provide much-needed revenue.
It will help patients and health care providers manage pain
safely, without breaking the law or the bank.
Legalization will address a long-standing social injustice.

It is working in other states.

A regulated system will be safer than

what we have now.
Todays
black market system
! 800,000 adults in MA use
marijuana regularly1
! No safeguards on purity,
potency, or personal security
when purchasing
! $200m - $900m in
unregulated, untaxed
marijuana sales2
! 79.5% of high school seniors
say marijuana is easy to get3

1 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2014.

2 Report of the Massachusetts Special Senate Committee on Marijuana, 2016.
3 National Institute on Drug Abuse. High School and Youth Trends, June 2016.

A regulated system
Strict rules for:
! Licensing and store security
! Purity testing
! Portioning and labeling
! Packaging
! Restricting underage access
! Prohibiting marketing to
minors
! Taxation of all sales

Regulation and taxation will provide

much-needed revenue.
$100 million
in estimated tax
revenue by year three1.

Revenue
outpaces
expenses
CO generated $113m
in 2015 revenue2;
budgeted $12m3 for
marijuana enforcement
and regulation in 2016.

1 Legal Marijuana could be a $1.1B industry in MA by 2019. Boston Globe, March 27 2016.
2 FY 2016-17 Colorado State Budget Request Summary. November 2, 2015.
3 Colorado Department of Revenue, Marijuana Taxes Licenses and Fees, December 2015.

MA is facing a budget
crunch, and this
revenue can be used
to fund schools,
veterans services,
law enforcement,
or opioid treatment
and education efforts.

Marijuana can help patients manage

pain, avoid addictive opioid painkillers.
October 2014

!States with medical marijuana laws have a 24.8% lower

opioid overdose mortality rate
!The longer a state has had medical marijuana laws, the
lower the opioid overdose mortality rate
1

1 Bachhuber, et al. Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010. Journal of the
American Medical Association Internal Medicine, October 2014.

Marijuana can help patients manage

pain, avoid addictive opioid painkillers.
October 2014

!States with medical marijuana laws have a 24.8% lower

opioid overdose mortality rate
!The longer a state has had medical marijuana laws, the
lower the opioid overdose mortality rate
1

5.8 million
opioid painkiller
prescriptions in MA in
20132 - highly addictive,
with side effects that
can ruin lives.

Marijuana can help

adults manage pain,
without the risk of
opioid addiction.

Patients currently face

high prices and
difficulty accessing
medical marijuana.

1 Bachhuber, et al. Medical Cannabis Laws and Opioid Analgesic Overdose Mortality in the United States, 1999-2010. Journal of the
American Medical Association Internal Medicine, October 2014.
2 MA Prescription Monitoring Program Annual Report, 2015.

Marijuana can help patients manage

pain, avoid addictive opioid painkillers.
Disabled veterans and civilians stuck in chronic pain would directly benefit
from the improved access that would come with the adult-use system
proposed by Question 4. I have no doubt that Massachusetts would
see the same reductions in opioid deaths that other states have
experienced under a regulated adult-use system.
Stephen Mandile, Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran, Founder of
Veterans Alternative Healing

If anything, marijuana can work as a gateway out of hard drug use

an exit strategy that needs to be studied and, possibly, implemented at
the policy level.
Miriam Boeri, Associate Professor of Sociology, Bentley University

Some politicians claim that cannabis is a gateway drug and that legalizing
it will worsen the opioid crisis. It isnt, and it wont. There is no
compelling evidence. The real gateway to opiate addiction is prescription
medications. Cannabis may help reduce opiate use.
Steve Hatch, RN in a Dual-Diagnosis Substance Abuse Detox Unit

Legalization will address a longstanding social injustice

Black residents are

Massachusetts ranks

3.3 times

34th in the
country

more likely than

whites to be arrested
for marijuana
possession,1 despite
using marijuana at the
same rate

in the disparity
between black and
white arrest rates2

Public safety
resources should be

focused on
serious
crimes

The impacts on peoples lives last a lifetime. If you have an arrest record,
you cant get housing, student loans, jobs, you might lose your
immigration status. The harms of our current marijuana laws are huge.
Carol Rose, Executive Director, ACLU-Massachusetts
This is a question of equity. There are a disproportionate number of black
and Latino men and women incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses.
Boston City Councilor Tito Jackson
1 FBI, Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data 2006-2014 and US Census Data.
2 ACLU, The War on Marijuana in Black and White, 2013.

Legalization will address a longstanding social injustice

1365 marijuana arrests in 2014.
Blacks chances of arrest for marijuana, compared to whites chances1
Distribution

Possession
8.5

likely to be

9
8
7

6.9

6.8
5.2

5.2

5.8

5.3

5.4

5.7

Blacks X times more

arrested

5
4
3

4.6
3.3

2
1

4.0
3.2

3.0

3.1

2.9

3.2

3.3

2011

2012

2013

2014

Decriminalization

0
2006

2007

2008

2009

2010
Year

1 FBI, Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data 2006-2014 and US Census Data.

NO ONE wants to see minors

using marijuana.
And there is no evidence that
legalizing adult use
increases underage use.

Limit youth access with smart

regulations, not scare tactics.
In Colorado, edibles are
indistinguishable from other
snacks, increasing the
likelihood of accidental use.

Limit youth access with smart

regulations, not scare tactics.
In Colorado, edibles are
MA Department of Public Health
indistinguishable
from other
prohibits sales of medical
snacks,
the
marijuanaincreasing
products that
look
candy. use.
likelihood
oflike
accidental
CCC is charged with regulating
packaging, marketing, and
restricting youth access.
Colorado has already changed
their laws around edibles; its
likely MA will adopt similar
regulations.

Limit youth access with smart

regulations, not scare tactics.
In Colorado, edibles are
MA Department of Public Health
indistinguishable
from other
prohibits sales of medical
snacks,
the
marijuanaincreasing
products that
look
candy. use.
likelihood
oflike
accidental
CCC is charged with regulating
packaging, marketing, and
restricting youth access.
Colorado has already changed
their laws around edibles; its
likely MA will adopt similar
regulations.

Calls to poison control

centers have spiked, and
incidents of kids being
exposed to marijuana have
increased 268%

Limit youth access with smart

regulations, not scare tactics.
In Colorado, edibles are
MA Department of Public Health
indistinguishable
from other
prohibits sales of medical
snacks,
the
marijuanaincreasing
products that
look
candy. use.
likelihood
oflike
accidental
CCC is charged with regulating
packaging, marketing, and
restricting youth access.
Colorado has already changed
their laws around edibles; its
likely MA will adopt similar
regulations.

Calls
CO had
to16
poison
marijuanacontrol
centers
related hospital
have spiked,
visitsand
for
kids
incidents
under age
of kids
9 inbeing
2015
exposed
up from
to marijuana
7 in 2013.have
increased 268%
1

Of the 49,701 calls to

CO Poison Control in 2015:
! 2,057 for children exposed to
cosmetics (4.1%)
! 703 for children exposed to vitamins
(1.4%)
! 47 for children exposed to marijuana
2
(0.1%)

1 Wang, et al. Unintentional Pediatric Exposures to Marijuana in Colorado, 2009-2015, JAMA Pediatrics, July 2016.
2 Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center Annual Report, 2014.

Legalization is working in other states.

This survey shows youth marijuana use has not
increased since legalization.
CO Department of Public Health and Environment
Marijuana Use among Colorado Students1
% of High School and Middle
School Students

60

50

48

Ever
46

42

Past 30 Days
43

40

40

30

29

28
23

25

22

37

38

20

21

2013

2015

20

10

Adult use
legalized

Medical legalized

0
1995

1997

2005

2009

2011

Year

1 Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. 2015 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey. Survey of 17,000 randomly selected middle
and high school students statewide.

It is time to tax and regulate

marijuana in Massachusetts?
A regulated, taxed system will be safer than what we have now
and provide much-needed revenue.
It will help patients and health care providers manage pain
safely, without breaking the law or the bank.
Legalization will address a long-standing social injustice.

It is working in other states.