Regulating Pot In Massachusetts: Whose Job Is It Anyway?

When voters in Massachusetts approved a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana last year, did they completely understand the meaning of the ballot question? In approving the measure, did voters decide to regulate a new, booming industry or to decriminalize an industry that is rapidly expanding in the Bay State and across the country?

Either way, since the referendum passed, lawmakers on Beacon Hill are working through the kinks of regulating the business of selling and taxing the marijuana industry. Some argue they are dragging their feet on the issue by delaying its implementation.

Dr. Kevin Sabet is president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national non-partisan marijuana policy group. He was also a senior drug policy adviser under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. 

He says, “I think a lot of people who voted for [ballot] question four were thinking this was much more about decriminalization … not putting people in jail or giving them an arrest record," said Sabet. "The sort of rude awakening some voters are having now is, 'wait a minute …this is about a pot shop next to my kid's school [that is] selling gummy bears laced with THC. That’s not exactly what I thought I was voting for.'”

“I think lawmakers are right to be very deliberative," he continued. “It’s hard [to regulate the marijuana industry]; it’s very rarely been done before. Colorado did it. But they’re experiencing a lot of growing pains. …. [lawmakers are] right in taking their time.”

Sabet also reminded people that marijuana is illegal under federal laws and there are inherent risks in possessing it. Massachusetts is one state that has decriminalized possession, but taxation of marijuana brings it to an entirely new level.

To listen to the entire interview between WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay and Dr. Kevin Sabet, click on the audio file above.