You may remember that House and Senate both had proposals for legal weed in the state.

You may remember that House and Senate both had proposals for legal weed in the state. You may also remember that the House version was crazy-pants and the Senate version generally more reasonable. They were supposed to reconcile their bills for a July 1st signing by the governor, but that didn't happen.

Today the compromise bill got signed.

I'll include the link but the main points are;

1.) No changes to amount you can possess or number of plants you can grow. The compromise bill actually de-criminalizes possession of small amounts (2oz or less) in public for people under 21 which means if you're underage and caught with a joint, you won't get a criminal record for that. So that's pretty good.

2.) Weed will be taxed at 20% vs. 12%. Even at this higher rate, it's still cheaper than Colorado, Oregon, or Washington. I'm not cheering for this, but I do support it. Colorado is currently clearing over $100 million/month in weed sales, which is about $30 million/month in tax revenue for them. If MA is the only place to get recreational weed on the East Coast, it's going to make a killing. I'm also betting that other states will start to move on this when they see the cash flowing in and then taxes will drop back through competition between states. But live high on the hog when you can.

3.) If your town voted Yes on recreational weed, your town council can't ban or restrict shops unless they produce a ballot question. If your town voted No, then the town council doesn't need to ask for your vote on the question, they can just ban shops. Almost every town in MA voted Yes so this should mean business can open just about anywhere. I'm mostly ok with this, I believe this provision holds until 2019 and then all towns have to put up ballot questions before making further changes (don't quote me). I'm sure I'd be irked if I lived in a "No" town, but it's not like I don't travel to nearby towns for things I can't get here all the time. It's a perfectly fine compromise.

There are some other provisions. Senator William Brownsburger is a state senator who worked on the committee that crafted the compromise bill. His notes are attached in the link.


https://willbrownsberger.com/the-marijuana-compromise/