Ellen Story, D-Amherst, responding to the 69 percent of the voters in her district who instructed her to vote “in favor of legislation that would allow the state to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol” on Nov. 2, 2010, is sponsoring “An Act to Regulate and Tax the Cannabis Industry.” Assigned House Docket Number 01091, it will receive a bill number in the near future.
If enacted, the state’s current prohibition upon adults having or growing a personal supply will be repealed, analogous to alcohol-control laws for home winemaking. Economist Jeffrey Miron estimated in a 2003 paper that this provision would reallocate scores of millions in law enforcement, judicial and corrections resources to other crimes and criminals. However, the system of regulation and taxation for a commercial cannabis industry, also similar to the alcohol-control laws, would not go into effect until legal under federal law.
Read more: State legislator files marijuana legislation
Marblehead Reporter, Posted on line Jan. 28, 2011