The issue of legalizing recreational marijuana in Massachusetts is likely coming before voters this November. The head of the state’s special legislative committee, Senator Jason Lewis ( @SenJasonLewis), was appointed to head up a study, and for months he was the sole member of that committee. Now, after a slew of research and a trip to Colorado, he’s speaking out against the plan.
Lewis joined Jim on Greater Boston on Tuesday evening to discuss his “no” vote. Lewis said that “it’s not the right time for Massachusetts to go down this road.” He said that the ballot question addresses a commercial, “profit driven" approach to legalization, which he opposed. If the ballot question passes in November, within a month, the people of Massachusetts could legally posses and use marijuana.
Lewis said that he wants to see a number of things happen before “we go down the road” to legalization. He recommended a strong public health campaign to "reverse the perception among young people that marijuana is harmless.” Lewis also expressed concerns about figuring out how to deal with people driving under the influence of marijuana. “We need to treat it like drunk driving,” said Lewis.
Lewis raised that point that we don’t currently know about baseline marijuana usage in Massachusetts. He said that in Colorado and Washington, they did not possess the baseline data before legalizing the drug, and therefore now they don’t understand the trends in usage and “how to drive policy from that.” Lewis said that he hopes Massachusetts will focus on giving people access to medical marijuana, rather than legalizing it for the state. “If you move to recreational now, it will take a lot of focus away from medical and getting that up and running."
In 2008 and 2012, Lewis voted no to both marijuana ballot questions. Lewis said that he is not fundamentally opposed to legalization, he just doesn’t think the timing is right.
