Will Luzier with Marijuana Legalization Ballot Question.jpg

Will Luzier, director of Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, hands in the language of the proposed ballot question to an employee of the state attorney general's office in 2015.

(Gintautas Dumcius/MassLive.com)

By GINTAUTAS DUMCIUS and SHIRA SCHOENBERG

BOSTON - Backers of an effort legalizing marijuana in Massachusetts made their pitch to State House lawmakers on Wednesday, offering them a chance to avoid the question appearing on the 2016 statewide ballot.

State House lawmakers can act on proposed legislation to legalize marijuana, or they can keep their distance and see how the ballot question process plays out in the hands of voters. Many lawmakers are opting for the latter.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is pushing to place its initiative on the November 2016 ballot, but its supporters appeared before the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to press for legislation that is similar to their initiative.

"As a general rule, it shouldn't be the voters that make policy in this Commonwealth, it should be the Legislature," said Richard Evans of Northampton, a supporter of marijuana legalization and the ballot initiative. "And if the Legislature doesn't, then the voters must."

If state lawmakers fail to act act on a legislative proposal, the backers of the ballot initiative plan to press ahead with the ballot question. "The initiative is the back-up in November," said Evans, chairman of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol.

Evans said he is willing to pull the initiative from the ballot if lawmakers act. "Our aim is to legalize marijuana," he said.

The public policy question isn't whether to legalize marijuana, but how to legalize it, he added.

Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana in some form or another.

State Rep. David Rogers, D-Cambridge, said he has filed a bill legalizing marijuana to start a conversation among his colleagues, who have expressed a reluctance to take up marijuana legalization.

The bill and the ballot initiative are largely similar. One difference, according to Rogers, is the bill limits the number of locations that can hold marijuana licenses and ties them to the number of alcohol licenses in a town. For example, if a city or town has 10 liquor licenses, it would be able to get a maximum of two marijuana licenses.

Massachusetts voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 2012, after decriminalizing small amounts of the substance in 2008.

Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday expressed concerns about marijuana edibles falling into the hands of children, citing issues in Colorado and invoking Joe Camel, the character that anti-smoking advocates said tobacco companies used to lure children into getting addicted to cigarettes.

There were serious problems in Colorado's early days of legalization, but the state worked them out through labeling and packaging, Evans said.

The bill and the ballot initiative have "strong controls" on edibles, Evans said, and they limit servings and create requirements on labeling of the packaging, which will also be "child-resistant and senior-friendly."



"You're not going to see Joe Camel in Massachusetts," Evans said. "Or Joe Cannabis."

Members of the Judiciary Committee did not ask questions of either Rogers or Evans.

A number of supporters of the bill attended the hearing.

Beth Waterfall-McSweeney, editor of the New England Cannabis Network blog, said she supports legalization of recreational marijuana because legalization will make it easier for people who need medical marijuana but are worried about going through the certification process or entering a state government database.

"People who are being closeted in use now will be able to have access to specific strains, to tested, high quality medicine they may be obtaining on the street now," Waterfall-McSweeney said.

Bill Downing, of the pro-marijuana group MassCann/NORML, said legalized marijuana "is coming one way or another, it's just a matter of time. We hope the Legislature will take the reins and do it right."

Top Beacon Hill leaders oppose legalization, and critics say it has the potential to be a gateway drug for other illegal substances.

Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh have both expressed opposition to the legalization effort.