Vote NO to legalizing the marijuana industry

Get the Facts!

The Safe and Healthy Massachusetts campaign is a growing coalition of families, workers, businesses, health care and community leaders, anti-addiction advocates, educators, and first responders who are opposing the legalization of the commercial marijuana industry in Massachusetts.

Among the people and groups that have already come out in opposition to this initiative includes:

• Massachusetts Hospital Association
• Massachusetts Medical Society
• Associated Industries of Massachusetts
• Retailers Association of Massachusetts
• Association of School Superintendents
• Association for Behavioral Healthcare
• National Association of Mental Illness (Massachusetts Chapter)
• Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD)
• Massachusetts Chiefs of Police
• Massachusetts Sheriffs Association
• All Massachusetts District Attorneys
• Governor Charlie Baker (R), Boston Mayor Marty Walsh (D), Attorney General Maura Healey (D), Speaker Robert DeLeo (D)

 

This law was written to benefit the commercial marijuana industry, will introduce an entirely new pot edibles market, and will harm our families and communities. Here are some of the facts:

The proposed law is written to benefit the commercial marijuana industry

• Massachusetts has already decriminalized marijuana possession and authorized medical marijuana. People are not being jailed for marijuana use, and have access to it for health reasons. This ballot question is about allowing the national marijuana industry to come into Massachusetts and market and sell marijuana products in our communities.
• It incorporates the laxest “home grow” provision in the country, allowing individual households to grow up to 12 marijuana plants at a value in the tens of thousands of dollars. This provision will have a significant impact on public safety, and has led to the creation of an entirely new black market in Colorado.
• It specifically authorizes marijuana edibles (products like candy bars and gummy bears), oils and concentrates.
• It specifically limits communities’ ability to restrict the locations and growth of pot shops. Two years into legalization, Colorado has more marijuana stores than Starbucks and McDonalds combined—and the numbers keep growing.

Wrong for our kids and families

• Today’s Marijuana is much more potent than it was even a generation ago. Marijuana for sale in Colorado averages 17% to 18% THC, which is several times more potent than was common in the 1980s.
• Since becoming the first state to legalize, Colorado has also become the #1 state in the nation for teen marijuana use. Use by teens aged 12-17 jumped by over 12% in the two years since legalization, even as that rate declined nationally.
• Commercial legalization has led to more fatal car crashes. In Washington, the number of fatal car crashes involving marijuana doubled in the one year since legalization.
• The marijuana edibles market is dangerous for kids, and a huge part of the commercial industry’s profit model. Marijuana infused products such as candies, cookies, and "cannabis cola" account for nearly 50% of the sales in Colorado, and that number is growing. These products are often indistinguishable from traditional products and attractive to children, placing them at significant risk of accidental use.

Photos of edible marijuana products. Please click to enlarge.

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