Summary: A specially appointed committee of Massachusetts Senate members will travel to Colorado to learn all they can about what regulations work for recreational marijuana use.
Massachusetts may be the next state to legalize recreational marijuana as members of the state senate panel plan to visit Colorado next week to learn about their experience with marijuana. Massachusetts is anticipating the issue to be on the 2016 ballot.
Ohio Not Ready for Medical or Recreational Marijuana
The trip by the Senate Special Committee on Marijuana will spend four days in Colorado meeting and discussing with state regulators, legislators and law enforcement officials. Committee Chair Sen. Jason Lewis said, “We have recognized all along that the best way to really learn about the impact of legalizing marijuana is to spend time on the ground in the state that has the most experience with it, and that is Colorado.”
Texas Moving Towards Allowing Medical Marijuana
The Milbank Memorial Fund, a nonprofit foundation specializing in health policy, is paying for the trip in response to The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol collecting enough signatures last year to advance the issue. They’re seeking the ability for Massachusetts residents 21 and older to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana. There would be a 3.75 percent state excise tax on retail marijuana sales on top of the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax.
Mexico Moving Towards Legalizing Marijuana for Personal Use
Massachusetts voters already approved the decriminalization of the possession of smaller amounts of marijuana and the use of marijuana for some medical conditions. These medical marijuana measures resulted in complex issues that delayed dispensaries from opening on time. Lewis stated, “We don’t want to repeat the mistakes and the challenges we had in implementing the medical marijuana question.” Recreational marijuana use will involve even more complex regulations.