marijuana regulation

February 11, 2016

Tax and regulate recreational marijuana bills introduced

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State Representative Scott Slater will introduce legislation next week that would end marijuana prohibition in Rhode Island and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol. Senator Josh Miller will enter similar legislation in the Senate. The Senate bill already almost half the Senate as co-signers and Slater has said that in conversation with leadership, Speaker Mattiello has indicated that he is open to the idea.

“Our current policy of marijuana prohibition has created an underground marijuana market that is entirely out of our control,” Slater said. “Most of the problems associated with marijuana stem from its illegal status. Rather than continuing to ignore these problems, let’s adopt a sensible regulatory system that addresses them.”

Slater also said, referencing Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposed tax on medical marijuana, “If Rhode Island wants marijuana to be a source of revenue, it should regulate and tax the hundreds of millions of dollars in adult marijuana sales currently taking place in the underground market. It should not impose onerous fees on seriously ill people who use marijuana for medical purposes, as our governor recently proposed.”

Senator Miller, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, issued a statement saying, “We should regulate and tax marijuana in Rhode Island and treat it similarly to how we treat alcohol. In a legal market, products would be tested, labeled, and packaged appropriately, and consumers are protected from the black market where they can be exposed to other more harmful illegal substances. Our legislation would put the illegal marijuana dealers out of business while generating tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue that we can invest in our communities.”

Professor Andrew Horwitz, a criminal defense lawyer and co-chair of Regulate Rhode Island spoke about the importance of decriminalizing marijuana, noting that continued criminalization,”devastates communities of color.”

“Most Rhode Island voters support ending marijuana prohibition and regulating marijuana like alcohol, and the level of support grows every year,” Horwitz said. “We hope this year that legislators will demonstrate leadership on this issue and replace our destructive and wasteful policy of marijuana prohibition with a system that makes more sense.”

Horwitz also spoke briefly about Governor Raimondo’s plan to tax medical marijuana, calling the move, “fundamentally cruel” and an “extraordinarily misguided approach.”

The Marijuana Regulation, Control, and Taxation Act would allow adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow one mature marijuana plant in an enclosed, locked space. It would create a tightly regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, processing facilities, and testing facilities and direct the Department of Business Regulation to create rules regulating security, labeling, and health and safety requirements. It would also establish wholesale excise taxes at the point of transfer from the cultivation facility to a retail store, as well as a special sales tax on retail sales to consumers.

Fifty-seven percent of Rhode Island voters support changing state law to regulate and tax marijuana similarly to alcohol, according to a survey conducted in April by Public Policy Polling. Only 35% were opposed.

November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Regulate RI’s marijuana forum packed with information

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“There are more African-American men in prison, jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850,” said Diego Arene-Morley, President of Brown University Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “That’s a statistic that you don’t really ever forget.”

He added, “The federal prison population since 1980 has grown 721% thanks to Reagan’s vision for a war on drugs.”

Arene-Morley was acting as the emcee at a forum on Regulating Marijuana in Rhode Island. It featured two panels of experts and advocates addressing a crowd of over 120 people. With nearly two hours of experts discussing policy and outlining possible courses towards the regulation of sales of marijuana, it was a night jam packed with information.

Representative Scott Slater (D-Prov) spoke about his involvement in passing a law to regulate the recreational use of marijuana as a continuation of the work his father, former Representative Thomas Slater, who was instrumental in passing the laws that allowed for the medical use of marijuana in our state.

Dr. David C. Lewis, MD, founder of Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, gave a short history of drug prohibition laws. He says such laws have always been racist in origin. That’s not to say that there are no dangers in using marijuana. Dr. Lewis maintains that we must balance an understanding of civil liberties with an understanding of the medical information.

Jim Vincent, president of NAACP Providence Branch pointed out that it’s not just communities of color, but all communities that are impacted by these drug laws. Money dedicated to the war on drugs is money not used in our schools or for other public goods. Vincent mentioned the book The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (see the suggested reading list below) as being an excellent guide to the cost of such policies on our society.

Elizabeth A. Comery, JD, retired attorney, former Providence police officer and member of LEAP, (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) recalled her days as a police officer in Providence. She joined the force in 1976, and said, “I went on because I really wanted to serve and protect. It may sound naive given what’s happening now but we have to get back to that.”

Comery knows police officers who are “consumed with guilt and regret” over their actions during the drug war. The police routinely targeted communities of color in their drug raids, and their war on drugs almost never penetrated into white or economically advantaged communities. Meanwhile, the clearance rates on homicides has plunged. In Providence, only 43% of homicides have been cleared since 2000.

Mason Tvert, Director of Communications at Marijuana Policy Project and co-director of the 2012 Amendment 64 campaign in Colorado, was asked about the approach most Rhode Island state legislators seem to be taking towards the issue, which is to “wait and see” what happens in Colorado in the wake of regulation there. Tvert compared those legislators to people who find out that they have cancer and wait to see how a friend’s treatment goes before deciding on a course of action for themselves. In adopting this attitude legislators are dodging the question and destroying lives.

Tvert also talked about the jobs marijuana regulation has brought to Colorado. In addition to 18,000 badged employees licensed by the state, there are uncounted thousands of spillover jobs in terms of construction and attendant industries. Tvert feels that responsible regulation that mandates living wages and health care for employees, among other benefits, could mitigate the effects of “Big Marijuana” in the event of nationwide regulation and federal acceptance.

Michelle McKenzie, MPH, public health researcher and advocate for people in recovery from substance dependence, who was part of the second panel, said, “Our society has tasked the criminal justice system with a task it just cannot do. We desperately need drug policy reform.”

Pat Oglesby, JD, MBA, former Chief Tax Counsel, US Senate Finance Committee would prefer that the regulation of marijuana be done under a state monopoly, but he was assured by Senator Josh Miller that such an idea is politically impossible at the Rhode Island State House. Oglesby thinks the taxation of marijuana should be on volume, not cost, as this reduces the chance of losing revenue as market competition drives down the price of marijuana in the future.

As to the possibility of passing marijuana regulation legislation in the near term, Senator Josh Miller is hopeful. Though by Senator Miller’s estimation the majority of State Senators privately believe that regulation is the best answer, most will not publicly endorse the idea for political reasons. Miller only got 13 Senators to publicly support the measure last year.

Miller isn’t all that interested in the financial implications in ending the war on marijuana. “There’s a culture of violence around drug use,” says Miller, “I’m interested in saving lives.” Regulation means that a person purchasing marijuana will be dealing with licensed businessmen, not criminals. Criminals bring access to weapons and harder drugs.

“The gateway,” says Miller, “is the drug dealer, not the drug.”

Dr. Lewis joked that this being Brown University, he couldn’t let the audience go without giving them a reading assignment. He recommended the following:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society by Carl Hart

Why we need to end the War on Drugs a TED Talk by Ethan Nadelmann

Not to be outdone, Beth Comery added a bit of required reading as well:

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Civil Forfeiture (HBO)

February 13, 2012February 13, 2012

RI Voters’ Poll: Seeking Major Changes In Marijuana Policy

A new poll of 714 Rhode Island Voters indicates overwhelming support for medical marijuana, compassion centers, and decriminalization of less than one ounce of the plant. The medical marijuana law, gone unused by Rep. Bob Watson (if he were to qualify) garnered support of 72%, including a whopping 82% of Dems, 61% GOP, and 57% of those beloved Seniors that every politician craves. Only 30% of people over 65 were opposed. With that support, it should be no surprise that support for the Compassion Centers (approved by the legislature three years ago) was equally high- and the poll suggests that Chaffee stands to gain some support if he were to stop Pot-Blocking the Compassion Centers. Half the voters said they would view the Governor more favorably, while only 19% would view him less favorably.

A meager 24% are opposed to making small amounts of marijuana punishable by only a fine, and apparently would rather pay to imprison someone over a bag of the most common illegal intoxicant, being used by millions of Americans every day. In contrast, 65% of RI voters would like to see the highly anticipated change in the law, and 58% would be more likely to vote for a politician who supported such a reform (24% said “less likely,” with 18% not sure). Political gurus: you know the score. Few have ever seen a bill with this much sponsorship and public support that has not become law. It appears the onus is upon Speaker Gordon Fox to assure all the votes are held, as few individuals other than he could keep this bill from reaching the Governor’s desk. It remains to be seen how many courageous people take to the hearing, saying things heard last year such as: ‘I’m a wife, a mother, I have a job, pay a mortgage, and I smoke pot.’ H 7092, sponsored by Rep. Edwards, has a list of co-sponsors that makes you search for the opposition. Minority Leader Newberry? Sponsor. Favorite Villain Rep. Palumbo? Sponsor. The aroma smells the same in the Senate, with S 2253. Stay tuned.

The more interesting proposition is one which gained the support of millions of voters in California on the first try: Full Regulation of Marijuana. Such a bill has gone to a hearing for the past two years; admittedly, the legislation may need to be more detailed, or empower the proper regulatory agency to oversee a several hundred million dollar economic development project that America has never seen. I could not find such a bill filed yet in the Assembly, but I may have overlooked it. The poll of voters, by the way, shakes out 52-41% in support. If this were projected numbers in an election, the front page would call it a “landslide.” Interestingly, the women are much less enthusiastic about Regulation despite being more supportive than men on the Compassion Centers. There was no difference in support among party lines, with the Independent/Other having lower support than the two dominant factions. On this question, the Over 65 crowd was the most out of step with everyone else, as they oppose Regulation 55-36%. I’m not sure if these numbers would be identical in 10 years, and age reflects our changing opinions, or if the idea of marijuana criminalization will go Bye Bye like Ms. American Pie.

One question that was not asked, that would be of interest, is support for the Good Samaritan Act. This bill (successful elsewhere) is basically designed to encourage one drug user to save the life of another. Studies and experience in the medical field has shown that drug overdose, a serious killer in America even when the newspaper is not so explicit, can often be prevented by the most unlikely hero, another user. However, faced with the fear of prison (and possibly being linked in with their death) the other user will flee rather than call 911 or administer naxalone. Under this bill, nobody is going to be charged with drug possession if the evidence arises when its a medical response. Surely a certain percentage of RI voters would rather see people dead or in jail, but I suspect that a vast majority would encourage people in tough times to choose life.

Life, Compassion, and Decriminalization- that is what the people are leaning towards. Don’t let the fear-mongering media fool you.