Recreational pot use question might be on Mass. ballot

[unhappycamper]

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20150805/NEWS/150808425/0/breaking_ajax

Recreational pot use question might be on Mass. ballot
By Steve LeBlanc/The Associated Press
Posted Aug. 5, 2015 at 1:45 PM
Updated at 5:20 PM

BOSTON — Massachusetts voters could get a chance to decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana if any of several proposed pro-pot questions filed with the state attorney general's office Wednesday reach the 2016 ballot.

A group called The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol submitted an initiative petition on Wednesday that would allow adults 21 years of age and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and also grow a "limited" amount of the plant in their homes.

It would set up a regulated system of licensed marijuana retail outlets, cultivation facilities, product manufacturing facilities and testing facilities overseen by a commission similar to the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission.

The question would also create a new 3.75 percent state excise tax on retail marijuana sales in addition to the standard state sales tax of 6.25 percent. The question would also allow cities and towns to set an additional local sales tax of up to 2 percent. Medical marijuana wouldn't be subject to the additional taxes.

[HFRN]

1. i think they should legalize pot because um, like, you know..

uh, what was the question again?

[merrily]

2. Good way to improve voter turnout.

Let me try to get this straight.

Do we already have a sales tax on medicinal marijuana, for which the patient has a prescription from a state-licensed physician, though not on other prescription drugs, such as, say, oxycodone? If (so it's not really a "standard sales tax," is it? It's an extraordinary sales tax. That the percentage of an extraordinary sales tax was set is at the same percentage as an ordinary sales tax doesn't make an extraordinary sales tax ordinary, does it? So, isn't calling the an extraordinary tax on a medication "ordinary" rather deceptive?

And now, the extraordinary rate on medicinal marijuana will be increased by 3.25% to make the sales tax on recreation marijuana an extraordinary rate? And, the way the ballot question is to be phrased, you will not be able to vote yes to authorize recreational marijuana without also voting yes to the extraordinary sales tax rate.

Isn't that a tad unfair?

If I am correct, isn't funny how greed and the war on drugs intertwine, both on the Mexican border and in a state legislature?

I've been told the state lottery was sold to Massachusetts voters based on the proceeds paying for a lot of state stuff without increasing property taxes or state taxes. Is that correct? If so, how's that been going?

Think I'll be contacting my state rep and my state senator soon.

P.S. I do not use marijuana. Don't laugh, but I did it once. Unlike Clinton, it was not one joint and I did inhale. I smoked joint after joint for hours. I never got high. The next day, my head hurt like you wouldn't believe, and so did my face, from all that inhaling. I figured it was not for me. However, I can envision (no pun intended) that I might need to use it medicinally some day. Besides, I just dislike government using tactics on voters that are not strictly straight arrow.