THE HOUSE CHAIR of the Legislature’s marijuana committee denied that his ire at State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg over a potential Lottery headquarters move out of his hometown was connected to […]
Drugs
Posted inPolitics
House reneged on pot agreement, say sources
HOUSE LEADERS ABRUPTLY walked away from an agreement between Gov. Charlie Baker, Speaker Robert DeLeo, and Senate President Stan Rosenberg that would have kept oversight of the emerging legal pot […]
Posted inPolitics
House has to backtrack on pot bill
HOUSE LEADERS DECIDED to pull back and revamp their rewrite of a voter-approved ballot question legalizing marijuana after concerns were raised that their bill would give Massachusetts the highest tax rate […]
Posted inHealth Care, Politics
House guts voter-approved pot law
THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE will unveil a measure Wednesday that completely overhauls the voter-approved referendum legalizing recreational marijuana while also moving oversight of medical marijuana under the same regulatory umbrella. About […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Sources: Higher tax, new opt-out in pot bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE RETAIL MARIJUANA SALES would be taxed at a maximum rate of 18.75 percent under legislation being developed by the House in preparation for a Thursday vote […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
House to roll out rewrite of legal pot bill
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE HOUSE LEADERSHIP WILL unveil its proposal to overhaul the voter-backed law legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts on Wednesday, setting up an expected debate and vote before the […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Guns, State House News Service
Feds crack down on Lawrence drug network
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THIRTY PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED Tuesday on gun, drug, and immigration charges in a sweep that brought down a Lawrence-based network that Acting US Attorney William Weinreb […]
Posted inHealth Care
Amgen offering money-back guarantee
Amgen, a California-based biopharmaceutical company, is offering a money-back guarantee to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and any of its members who use the company’s expensive cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha and fail […]
Posted inPolitics
Pot panel looks to let ex-cons in
THE LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE shaping the state’s new marijuana law wrapped up its final session of hearings Monday with an impassioned plea from a convicted drug felon to change the laws […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, Opinion
With mixed record on opioids, Baker joining task force
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER IS JOINING a White House task force on opioids, to be chaired by fellow governor Chris Christie, whom Baker endorsed in the Republican presidential primaries. Baker is […]
Posted inEconomy
Holyoke’s mayor isn’t afraid of pot
Photographs by Mark Morelli OUTSIDE HOLYOKE CITY HALL is a stone fountain that once gurgled with water, offering a more wholesome substitute for alcohol to “a thirsty humanity,” as the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Communities seek change on pot opt-out
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE UNCERTAINTY OVER THE PROCESS cities and towns must follow to opt out of the sprouting legal marijuana market has sparked confusion across the state and needs […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
For marijuana law, now the ‘Grown-Up’s Hour’
MANY OF US have listened to Longfellow’s poem that reminds us that there “Comes a pause in the day’s occupations, that is known as the Children’s Hour.” Now that democracy […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Drug Addiction, Opinion
Sununu, Rivera vow to work together on drugs
Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire and Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera talked by phone on Thursday after Sununu had claimed that most of the drugs flowing into the Granite State […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Opioid deaths continued to climb in 2016
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE DYING from opioid overdoses in Massachusetts each year continues to climb, according to a new state report projecting an estimated increase of […]
Posted inOpinion
Alcohol provides template for pot regulation
STATE OFFICIALS NEED TO BEGIN the difficult process of implementing systemic, comprehensive regulatory oversight of retail marijuana sales. Fortunately, the existing regulatory system for the sale of alcohol provides an […]
Posted inPolitics
Pro-pot senators pass on blocking delay
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG last week notified three of his colleagues who support marijuana legalization that the Senate was preparing to push back the starting date for retail sales by […]
Posted inPolitics
Baker signs pot sale delay into law
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday signed into law a bill that will delay retail sales of marijuana for at least six months, capping an unusual series of holiday-week power moves […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service
House, Senate OK delay in marijuana law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE HOUSE AND SENATE on Wednesday passed a bill (S 2524) that would delay the licensing of retail marijuana outlets by six months, which could push […]
Posted inEconomy
Banking on the pot industry
AT LEAST ONE Massachusetts bank is offering services to the nascent legal marijuana industry in the state despite uncertainty over federal drug and banking regulations that still classify all pot […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Baker seeks changes in pot law
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER MASSACHUSETTS VOTERS just said yes to legalizing marijuana Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker, an outspoken opponent of the referendum, said he wants a more efficient process […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot proponents hit critics on ‘scare tactics’
A LAWYER WHO helped draft the initiative to legalize adult recreational use of marijuana said critics of the referendum are using decades-old scare tactics to defeat the proposal and twisting […]
Posted inPolitics
Pot opponents hit ‘Big Marijuana’
OPPONENTS OF THE BALLOT QUESTION to legalize adult use of pot are pivoting their focus away from the dangers of the drug and taking aim at “Big Marijuana,” the burgeoning […]
Posted inPolitics
Pot opponents mislead on costs, local aid threat
LT. GOV. KARYN POLITO suggested earlier this week that passage of the ballot question legalizing recreational marijuana could lead to a reduction in local aid to pay for regulating the new […]