Mass. Senate panel on marijuana releases findings

March 8, 2016 6:20 pm

By: Rebecca Turco

Email: rturco@abc6.com

BOSTON, Mass. – As Massachusetts mulls over legalizing marijuana, a legislative panel is expressing concerns over going down this route.

Members of this panel recently visited Colorado to learn about the legalization of recreational marijuana, before releasing a 118-page report Tuesday.

The report recommends taking a cautious approach, including: outlawing home growing, imposing additional taxes and prohibiting edibles appealing to children.

People who support legalizing marijuana feel some of these recommendations go too far.

“You don’t want to make it so strict that the private sector is not going to want to invest here,” explained Attorney and Former Fall River Mayor Will Flanagan, who is a consultant for the marijuana industry. He agrees with the proposal as it stands: taxing retail marijuana at 3.75 percent, on top of the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax.

The panel’s estimates show taxes and fees on this could bring the state $50-60 million each year. "There’s no other industry that’s going to give back as much revenue to a state like the marijuana industry,” Flanagan said.

The panel’s report comes a day after a Statehouse hearing on a proposal before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee that would allow the recreational use and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for those 21 and older.

The committee was created last year in response to the proposal, which will likely be a 2016 ballot question.