Marijuana study leader is against legalization push

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/03/20/leader-marijuana-study-comes-out-against-legalization-push/XW5a0GKNS6Szh7cu9OzcHP/story.html



Budtender Trevor Hollis held a pair of marijuana buds for a customer at the Denver Kush Club in November in Denver, Colo.

Marijuana study leader is against legalization push
By Joshua Miller Globe Staff March 20, 2016

For a year, state Senator Jason M. Lewis maintained strict neutrality as he studied marijuana legalization — interviewing 50-plus experts, scouring the research, and observing firsthand a state where it is legal. But now he is speaking out against the expected November referendum in Massachusetts.

His position carries special weight. Lewis chairs the special legislative committee on marijuana.

His concerns, voiced just after his committee submitted its report on the topic, arise from his role as both a father and a public official, he said.

“I am opposed to the likely ballot question because this is the wrong time for Massachusetts to go down this road, and a commercial, profit-driven market is the wrong approach to take,” the Winchester Democrat said.

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Evidently Lewis does not keep up on current events:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2016/03/20/legal-marijuana-sales-forecast-hit-23b-4-years/82046018/

Legal marijuana sales forecast to hit $23B in 4 years
Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY 3:55 p.m. EDT March 20, 2016

DENVER — Marijuana is rapidly becoming a big, semi-legal business across the country, with $5.7 billion in sales last year and tens of thousands of people working and paying taxes as they cultivate, package and sell cannabis.

Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, Washington state and Washington, D.C. have all legalized adult recreational use, and 23 states and the District of Columbia permit some form of medical use. That’s despite the fact that marijuana remains an illegal drug and Schedule 1 controlled substance at the federal level.

Across the country, thousands of people are rushing into the industry, struggling to work within a conflicting patchwork of state laws and local regulations, all the while operating largely without accounts at banks, which are fearful of running afoul of federal drug-trafficking laws.

The industry is only expected to grow in 2016, particularly if California voters this fall decide to legalize recreational use, according to the newly released 4th Edition State of Legal Marijuana Markets Report from from ArcView Market Research and New Frontier, a cannabis-focused data-analysis firm. Much of the increase is attributed to adult use market sales, which hit $1.3 billion last year. By 2020, adult use and medical marijuana sales are expected to reach nearly $23 billion, triple this year.