legalize – RI Future

May 20, 2014May 20, 2014

Legalizing marijuana enjoys ‘tripartisan’ support

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Bipartisan support can be hard to come by in modern politics. Not for legalizing marijuana in Rhode Island though, which activists say enjoys “tripartisan support.”

Regulate RI says Democratic, Republican and Libertarian party leaders will all speak today (3pm) at the State House rotunda to call on the legislature to make Rhode Island the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana.

The Republican in the group is Providence mayoral candidate Dan Harrop, who is also chairman of the divisive right wing think tank RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity. Their policy director, Justin Katz, is opposed. Like marriage equality, legalizing marijuana enjoys more popularity among the Republicans than with Democratic leadership. House Minority Leader Brian Newberry is a co-sponsor of the so-called tax and regulate bill.

The Libertarians include Mike Rollins, chairman of the local Libertarian Party and Richard Ford, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus. Democrats include from Edith Ajello, the progressive East Side state representative who sponsored the bill, Pat Smith, a Barrington resident who is very active with the RI Progressive Democrats, and Kristina Fox, former president of the Young Democrats of RI who now works for Providence mayoral hopeful Jorge Elorza. Click here to listen to more Democrats (Gov Chafee, Rep Frank Ferri and Senator Josh Miller) talk about legalization.

A recent analysis shows legalization would mean between $20 and $80 million in additional revenue for Rhode Island and the Providence NAACP, and other social justice advocates, support legalization because pot prohibition has unfairly targeted poor and minority communities. A poll found legalization is popular with the average Rhode Islander too, with 53 percent in support. But pundits believe there is little political will to take up the legislation this session because it’s an election year.

February 24, 2014February 25, 2014

Chafee now undecided on legalizing marijuana

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Earlier this year Governor Linc Chafee told RI Future that he wanted to wait to see “what other states do” before he considers helping Rhode Island become just the third state in the nation to legalize marijuana. But after a high profile conversation with Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper at the National Governors Conference this weekend he seems to be re-evaluating his options.

“The legislation to legalize marijuana is currently winding its way through the General Assembly,” said spokeswoman Faye Zuckerman. “If it were to reach his desk, the Governor would evaluate it at that time.”

Last week, it was learned that Colorado expects $133 million in new revenue after it became the first state (with Washington) to tax and regulate the sale of marijuana. Then Bloomberg News reported on Chafee’s reaction to Hickenlooper’s cautionary advice on legalization.

From Bloomberg:

Colorado’s numbers “opened a lot of eyes,” Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln D. Chaffee, an independent, said in an interview. He said Colorado’s fiscal forecast fostered a discussion about whether to “regulate it and tax it in these tough times.”

Chaffee, who previously served as a Republican U.S. senator, said the ill effects of the long-running fight against drugs should hasten discussion about new approaches worldwide. He said legalization measures have been proposed in Rhode Island and didn’t rule out signing one.

“We’ll see how these bills come out of the legislature,” he said.

February 20, 2014

Colorado pot economy producing new revenue, new research and new residents

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Colorado expects to make $133 million in new revenue this year because of legalized marijuana. This is twice what the state anticipated when it became, along with Washington, the first state in the nation to tax and regulate the giant underground pot economy. Between legal and medicinal marijuana, Colorado expects more than $800 million in sales alone this year.

For comparison, Rhode Island faces a similar-sized budget deficit this year ($149 million) as Colorado expects to reap in new revenue, and the state legislature here is considering legislation that would make us the third state to profit from pot. Rep. Edith Ajello and Senator Josh Miller are sponsoring the bill and they wrote an op/ed about why here.

News of how the marijuana industry is proving to have a very positive effect on Colorado’s economy is starting to sweep the nation. Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported on a 5-year-old who stopped having hundreds of seizures a week when she experimented with a tincture made from marijuana plants grown specifically to prevent seizures.

From the AP, which says the science is still unproven but “more than 100 families have relocated” to Colorado to try the special strand of marijuana grown to accentuate the chemical naturally found in the plant that reduces seizures:

The doctors were out of ideas to help 5-year-old Charlotte Figi.

Suffering from a rare genetic disorder, she had as many as 300 grand mal seizures a week, used a wheelchair, went into repeated cardiac arrest and could barely speak. As a last resort, her mother began calling medical marijuana shops.

Two years later, Charlotte is largely seizure-free and able to walk, talk and feed herself after taking oil infused with a special pot strain. Her recovery has inspired both a name for the strain of marijuana she takes that is bred not to make users high — Charlotte’s Web — and an influx of families with seizure-stricken children to Colorado from states that ban the drug.

The New Hampshire state legislature is also considering legalizing marijuana and the Oregon legislature is debating putting the question to the voters as a ballot initiative.

January 8, 2014January 8, 2014

Chafee, Ferri, Miller: Three lawmakers talk marijuana legalization

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

Marijuana policy experts from afar have suggested Rhode Island could become the third state in the nation, after Colorado and Washington, to tax and regulate cannabis. But local political policy experts have suggested it won’t happen this year because it’s an election year.

I spoke with three State House lawmakers yesterday about the prospect for Rhode Island to legalize marijuana this year: Governor Linc Chafee, Senator Josh Miller and Rep. Frank Ferri

Chafee said he doesn’t think it will happen this year, saying he would like to see what happens in Colorado and Washington and what revenue estimates look like before moving ahead.

Senator Josh Miller, a progressive Democrat from Cranston, didn’t sound overly optimistic. “I’m not sure there’s enough people who understand or take it seriously enough to totally embrace it but I think it will be a serious discussion.” But he did say the revenue projections “will be hard to ignore.”

And for those who think the politics of the election cycle will trump policy (there are very few legislators who actively oppose legalization) Rep. Frank Ferri likened its chances to marriage equality. (Ferri is gay and worked for many years to pass same sex marriage; it passed last year)

Here’s my takeaway: legalizing marijuana will create jobs, raise tax revenue and every lawmaker I spoke with yesterday said that should be the major priority of the General Assembly this year. If there is a non-reefer madness reason not to tax and regulate marijuana – beyond the reefer madness offered by the Providence Journal and the electoral concerns of those in power – I’d like to hear it.

For more on this debate, see this article from Reason (August, 2013): Marijuana’s Bright Future. And this one from the American Prospect (December 2013): Pot’s Uncertain Future.

Also please listen to this RI Future podcast featuring an informed conversation between pro-legalization advocates Jared Moffat and Rebecca McGoldrick with East Greenwich drug counselor Bob Houghtaling, who said he could support legalization if done right.

February 27, 2013February 27, 2013

Regulating Marijuana Will Create New RI Jobs

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /hermes/bosnacweb08/bosnacweb08bf/b1577/ipg.rifuturecom/RIFutureNew/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4387

The House Judiciary Committee will take testimony today on House Bill 5274, the Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act. The bill would create a system of regulation and taxation for the production and sale of marijuana that is similar to the current system that regulates alcohol.

The legislation will create hundreds of good, middle-class jobs for Rhode Island, including cultivators, packagers, distributors, retailers, and health researchers. House Bill 5274 is one of the simplest things our legislature can do to create jobs right here in our state.

Instead of generating much-needed tax revenue for our state, the current policy of marijuana prohibition allows criminals to profit off of marijuana sales. This money funds other criminal activities that undermine the stability and safety of our communities. Revenue generated from legalizing, regulating, and taxing marijuana will instead strengthen our communities, since 40 percent will go towards voluntary treatment and education programs for alcohol, tobacco, and drug misuse and 10 percent will go towards medical research.

Regulation will take marijuana out of schools and off the streets. Under prohibition, criminals dictate the terms of the marijuana market. They decide where, when, and to whom marijuana is sold. Unlike licensed businesses, illegal dealers have no incentive not to sell to minors. It’s no surprise then that four in five high schoolers consistently report that marijuana is easy to buy in the black market (1). Of the 44 percent of students who know of a student drug dealer at their school, 91 percent say that they sell marijuana, compared to six percent who say cigarettes and one percent who say alcohol (2).

Finally, the Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act makes sense from a public health and safety perspective. Under the current model, marijuana users are forced to navigate a dangerous black market, and they can never be sure about what they’re putting into their bodies. House Bill 5274 will allow for the establishment of safety compliance centers that will test marijuana for potency and purity, ensuring that users are aware of what they are consuming.

It is critical for members of the community to come to the hearing to show support for this bill. Your presence is needed to motivate the passage of such progressive and timely legislation. Criminal punishment for marijuana related activity has not resulted in a decrease in use or a reduction of crime and violence. By passing this legislation, Rhode Island can become a leader in developing a smarter, more responsible approach to marijuana.

(1) Johnston, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., Bachman, J. G., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2012). Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent drug use: Overview of key findings, 2011. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan. p. 12.
(2) The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XVII: Teens, August 2012. p. ii.