MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION BILL WITH ORIGINS IN THE PIONEER VALLEY HAS
HEARING ON BEACON HILL

On March 2, the Massachusetts state legislature's Joint Committee on
the Judiciary heard testimony on Senate bill no. 1801, "An Act to
Regulate and Tax the Cannabis Industry." This was the second time
in less than six months the legislature heard testimony on the
subject, with the Joint Committee on Revenue having held a hearing on
an identical House bill in early October 2009. The bill was written
and brought forth by Richard M. Evans, of Northampton, Mass.

When asked about the likelihood of the bill passing into law, Evans
said he feels his legislation is a long-shot.

"[It] doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell," he said,
since "no legislator would touch it with a ten foot pole." He
explained that his primary goal in petitioning this bill was to
facilitate discourse on the prospect of legalizing. He said he wants
to "stimulate discussion on how to [decriminalize and regulate
marijuana], not whether-or-not it should happen." He went on to note
that the current bill only represents a "prototype," just a
suggested outline for how the process could happen. Steven Epstein,
treasurer of MassCann - the Massachusetts chapter of the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) - helped
explain the goals of the legislation itself.

Regulation and taxation of the cannabis industry would have several
effects. Licensing and regulations would enact safeguards for all
those involved from production through consumption. Evans calculates
that taxing the cannabis industry could garner at least half a
billion dollars in revenue annually in the state of Massachusetts
alone.

Epstein added that passing such legislation would also allow for the
reallocation of funds currently used for investigating, prosecuting
and incarcerating individuals for marijuana offenses.

Decriminalization would end what supporters consider an
"unconstitutional restriction," that, as Epstein said, "creates
crime where there is no moral culpability." During the March 2
hearing, the Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard testimony from a
diverse group of advocates.

Bill Downing of Reading, Mass., a self-described small-business owner
and elected town meeting member, argued that marijuana prohibition is
an obvious failure, given its continued presence and use in our culture.

Downing also said that in criminalizing what he sees as a matter of
"privacy and personal liberty," the government " weakens the
moral impact of the term €'illegal.'" Following Downing, the
committee heard testimony from Jack Cole, the Executive Director of
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Cole retired as a
detective lieutenant from the New Jersey State Police after 26 years
of service, including 14 years of undercover narcotics work. In his
testimony, Cole cited that of the 39 million nonviolent arrests in
the War on Drugs since the Reagan administration, nearly half have
been for marijuana-related charges. He believes this
"misappropriation of resources" is a leading factor in police
departments' inability to "solve significant crimes" such as
rape and murder.

The legislature also heard testimony from a grandmother seeking
custody of her own grandson.

She described herself as a college-educated computer technician with
no criminal record, who has raised four children, the oldest of whom
recently graduated from college with honors and is now a teacher in
Boston Public Schools. Although she no longer uses marijuana, she
says she has been denied guardianship of the child based on earlier
admitted recreational use.

Student leaders from Suffolk University and Emerson College also gave
testimony, with one student asking the committee, "When before have
the people come to you practically begging to be taxed?" Testimony
was also offered by Scott Matalon, owner of Sting Ray Body Art in
Boston and a community leader in the city. Matalon cited the 2002
National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the U.S. Department of
Health Reports in arguing that growing marijuana in the U.S. alone in
a $24 billion larger industry than corn - which, according to
Business Week, is the largest crop in the United States, valued at
$48.6 billion in 2009. In addition to noted cannabis activist Epstein,
the legislators heard testimony from the bill's author, Evans. Evans
began by contending that marijuana use is "inextricably embedded in
our culture.

It is ubiquitous," he said. He continued to point out that in the
past eight years, all 45 pro-cannabis reform policy questions
presented to Massachusetts voters "have passed by substantial
margins." Even without a solid chance of becoming law, Evans
reiterated the importance of opening a dialogue on how the state of
Massachusetts could move to decriminalize, tax, and regulate the
cannabis industry. Video of testimony from the March 2 hearing can be
found on the MassCann website, and more information on cannabis
taxation and regulation can be found on Evans' website
http://www.cantaxreg.com/