As the first recreational pot in more than a century began being sold legally in Massachusetts Tuesday, Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-MA) reversed his previous position on the drug and called on Congress “to remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and legalize it at the federal level.”
Kennedy, who opposed Massachusetts’ 2016 ballot measure to legalize recreational cannabis, wrote in an op-ed in STAT, the medicine and life sciences website: “One thing is clear to me: Our federal policy on marijuana is badly broken, benefiting neither the elderly man suffering from cancer whom marijuana may help nor the young woman prone to substance use disorder whom it may harm.”
“The patchwork of inconsistent state laws compounds the dysfunction,” Kennedy continued. “Our federal government has ceded its responsibility — and authority — to thoughtfully regulate marijuana.”
The Boston Globe noted that in 2016, Kennedy said “I don’t think marijuana should be legalized,” and as recently as March, he told Vox’s Ezra Klein: “My views do not exactly line up with my own state, and it’s something that I’m struggling with.”
Kennedy addressed his concerns about abuse and addition in the STAT op-ed, but said the current state of federal cannabis prohibition “is hard to justify,” especially given the increasing number of states where the drug is currently legal in some form.
The congressman said that while his “concerns about the public health impact of marijuana remain,” legalization at the federal level “would restore the federal government’s ability to regulate a powerful new industry thoroughly and thoughtfully.”
“It would allow us to set packaging and advertising rules, so marketing can’t target kids,” he wrote. “It would help set labeling requirements and quality standards, so consumers know exactly what they’re buying. It would ensure that we can dedicate funding to encourage safe use and spread awareness about the risks of impaired driving. And it would create tax revenue for research on mental health effects, safe prescription drugs, and a reliable roadside test.”
As Peter Tosh said
Legalize it and don’t criticize it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cIePqdz03AI agree with him. The current policy is sort of wink, wink, nod, nod. It is really illegal in every state at the Federal level but as a practical matter it is only enforced in states that continue to prohibit the drug. It is time to remove cannabis from the prohibited list and regulate it.
There’s a lotta money to be made at the federal level. Could in time even pay for that stupid tax cut.
Canada legalized cannabis nationally as of last month, and so far it has proven quite benign. Arrests of people driving while high etc. have not increased. Obviously it’s early, but what’s happening a little bit to the North is clearly a good experiment for the US. For me personally legalization is not a hot button issue either way – not one of my top ten-thousand priorities – but I’m still very interested in how this has been playing out. Any harm done to criminal cartels will be especially noteworthy, so here’s hoping…
People who invested early in commercial pot companies – anticipating huge growth in the industry, no pun intended – have lost some money, however. That was clearly a pricing bubble.
edited to add: … and the tax revenue won’t hurt. Too early to tell exactly how much it will come to, however. The market has not yet stabilized
Whole I agree w/ Mr Tosh’s sentiment, I believe the claims regarding tuberculosis are exaggerated