State Pot Rules Are For The Paranoid

Pot Causes Paranoia - Without Use
by Bill Gouveia for the Sun Chronicle

There has long been a theory (some would call it a fact) that marijuana has a chilling effect on people. It makes them paranoid, act strangely and illogically, and leads them into hysterical decision-making that creates bad and costly situations for the public at large.

And you don’t even have to smoke, ingest or inhale it for all those things to happen. All you have to do is try legislating it here in Massachusetts on either the local or state level. The federal government is even a crazier story.

Truth be told, just the mention of legalized pot is often enough to set off politicians at every stage of government. Here at the local level, officials have displayed a wide variety of reactions to something the people of Massachusetts voted — by a relatively wide margin — to support. Combine that with the ridiculous and inconsistent approach by the current administration and Justice Department, and you have a confusing mess that leaves most of the area high and dry. Pun intended.

And they have gotten little help from our distinguished state legislature, which has treated the issue of almost any form of legalized marijuana as if it were regulating plutonium. In typical Beacon Hill fashion, it continues to ignore the expressed will of the people. The majority of members pay lip service to the fact voters spoke on this issue, but remain unwilling to act accordingly.

They created legislation that purports to legalize pot, but in fact buries it under a pile of bureaucratic silliness. The regulations are virtually indecipherable, much of it reading like it was put together by someone under the influence of something far more disabling than marijuana. Just the approval process alone at the local level is so dumb and deliberately dense as to defy belief.

It was created to be able to give cover to local politicians who could be “at risk” if they allowed marijuana dispensaries of any type in their communities. How, you ask? By recognizing what most local politicians and officials know all too well, but most local voters don’t really think about and understand:

Getting elected and reelected at the local level is completely different than running for state positions, primarily because the people who vote in each election are very often not the same. Simply put, the people who elect selectmen and city councilors are very often not the same people who cast ballots in state races. And those who treat these elections alike often have short political careers because of it.

How else can you explain a system that requires an applicant for a marijuana dispensary to go before a board of selectmen in order to proceed to the licensing stage, yet not require them to actually approve it? Instead, local officials can merely vote to issue a “letter of non-opposition” and thus be able to claim they were firmly on both sides of the volatile issue. They can say both “We didn’t approve it” and “We didn’t deny it” with equal truthfulness.

This rather unique position allows them to assuage the larger, more broadly-based electorate who vote in state contests by allowing these businesses to at least move forward. At the same time, they can tell the smaller, more provincial group who faithfully votes in local elections that they refused to actually approve allowing “reefer madness.”

Some leaders and municipalities have embraced the potential economic benefits of legalized pot. Attleboro Mayor Heroux has made anticipated revenue from marijuana dispensaries an integral piece of his financial and budget plans for the city. By contrast, most leaders in Foxboro have run from any type of marijuana facility — medical or recreational — largely because that town narrowly voted against the statewide ballot question. And because the local election voting base is much more conservative, with marijuana not fitting into their vision for “The Gem of Norfolk County.”

In the meantime, the Trump administration — which always favors “leaving things up to the state” — has its attorney general vigorously enforcing federal marijuana laws even when they conflict with state laws. That’s a complete change from the previous administration.

A lot of these legislative folks just need to chill. But then, that seems to be what they fear the most.

Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and longtime local official. He can be reached at billsinsidelook@gmail.com and followed on Twitter at @Billinsidelook.