US ATTORNEY ANDREW LELLING has sent a chilling response to calls from pro-pot advocates to clarify his stance on marijuana prosecution in Massachusetts, a message sure to send potential investors […]
Marijuana
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics
Confusion reigns in states with legal pot
THE ONE THING that is certain with the change in enforcement of federal marijuana laws is that there will be no uniform approach to enforcement by US attorneys in states […]
Posted inThe Download
Sessions declares it high time for pot clampdown
As if the Trump administration didn’t have enough conflagrations to put out, it has now handed fire extinguishers to US attorneys and told them blast away with the full weight […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Sessions turns back pot clock
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS has thrown the emerging legal marijuana industry into turmoil by rescinding an Obama-era memorandum that ordered the Justice Department to ignore enforcing federal drug laws in […]
Posted inThe Download
Pot rollout tentative in Cali
Retail pot stores began opening across California on New Year’s Day, at least six months ahead of Massachusetts even though voters in both states approved the legalization of recreational marijuana at […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board finds a home
SALT AND PEPPER. Hammer and nail. Bacon and eggs. Crimson and clover. Yin and yang. Pot and gambling. All things that apparently go together in many people’s minds. The Massachusetts […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics, State House News Service
Rosenberg: We’re not done with pot
SENATE PRESIDENT STANLEY ROSENBERG said the recreational marijuana law will continue to evolve and he foresees the Legislature making several changes a year. “We created a joint standing committee because […]
Posted inEconomy, Politics
Pot board wants $5 million more
THE STATE’S CANNABIS Control Commission has asked lawmakers for another $5.2 million for the remainder of the fiscal year on top of the $2.3 million that was already set aside […]
Posted inPolitics
Amazon vs. marijuana
WHEN A CHICOPEE woman won the record-setting Powerball jackpot in August, lost in the cacophony were the two $1 million winning tickets sold in Dorchester and Watertown. Despite the disappointment […]
Posted inPolitics
New pot czar is known quantity
A TOP AIDE to state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg who fashioned the regulatory infrastructure for the nascent retail marijuana business when that office was set to oversee the emerging industry has […]
Posted inPolitics
Islanders want their pot, too
THE “LISTENING TOUR” by the board charged with regulating the state’s emerging marijuana industry landed on Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday, where the two members heard pleas from pro-pot advocates to help […]
Posted inEconomy
Islands face special pot challenges
LIVING ON AN island brings with it challenges many on the mainland don’t grasp, from being locked in during storms to being overrun by tourists during the summer season. But […]
Posted inUncategorized
Pot board taps chair as interim director
THE MAIN ORDER of business Tuesday in the Cannabis Control Commission’s first-ever public hearing was to install an interim executive director and the board didn’t look far – Chairman Steven […]
Posted inUncategorized
Cannabis Commission may be scrambling for funds
THE STATE COMMISSION CHARGED with implementing the new legal marijuana law is starting its work with no money in its coffers and uncertainty about whether it will have sufficient funds […]
Posted inOpinion, Politics
Marijuana law must address race impact of War on Drugs
IN NOVEMBER, MASSACHUSETTS voters chose to move our state’s drug policy into the 21st century by rejecting the failed War on Drugs and becoming the first state in the Eastern […]
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 inOpinion, Politics
The shock heard ‘round the world
DONALD TRUMP WAS elected president, upending the expectations set by virtually every poll going into Tuesday’s election. He won despite alienating and attacking everyone from Hispanics to Gold Star families, […]
Posted inThe Download
The Codcast: Smoke and mirrors
Both sides of the debate over the ballot question to legalize adult recreational use of marijuana are running television ads in the final weeks of the campaign and it’s safe […]
Posted inTransportation
AAA says marijuana OUI laws useless
THE RESEARCH ARM of AAA says states that set legal limits for marijuana driving impairment have no scientific basis for the standards and urged a national effort to adopt uniform […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, The Back Story
The gateway debate over marijuana
CHRIS LOWE, A 41-year-old carpenter on Martha’s Vineyard, has smoked pot since his early 20s, both legally and illegally. When he lived in Montana, he had a certificate to grow, sell, […]
Posted inThe Download
On weed, let’s stick to the facts
Facts are in short supply in the increasingly polarized debate over legalizing marijuana, which is why Jack Sullivan’s piece today in CommonWealth is refreshing. The article suggests the inability of […]
Posted inPolitics, State House News Service, The Download
Bipartisan buzzkill
After the struggle to get medical marijuana off the ground, did anyone really think there would be little institutional resistance to legalizing recreational use and commercial sale of pot? Gov. […]
Posted inDrug Addiction, State House News Service
Lawmakers hear testimony on pot legalization
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE Activists in favor of the legalization of the adult use of marijuana squared off Monday with law enforcement officials and legislators in what one activist called […]