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An Indoor Garden Area Located in California
foresees a nightmare weedscape on the near horizon, on the subject of her beloved Boston 2024 Olympics,
the columnist once claimed “we’ll never really know” how that sunken charade would have ended
for taxpayers. Leung is pushing the same capitalist crap we are now seeing from innumerable politicians,
right down to the municipal level. They have no proof to support the claim that taxes at the rate of 3.75
percent (an excise tax on top of sales tax) won’t cover the cost of implementation, yet point to the cost of
regulation as a reason to increase the tax. At the same time, none have expressed much worry about the
financial burden of locking up growers. Spending government resources on busting micro-grows? A-OK
for this crowd. No concerns regarding those expenditures.
You’ll get a similar story from Nicholas Vita, chief executive officer of Columbia Care, which holds three
medical marijuana licenses in Massachusetts (including one for Patriot Care in Boston). Vita cited his
concerns about public safety in interviews, all while shamelessly omitting the reality that home grows
could put a substantial dent in operations like his that sell ounces for upwards of $400.
The cries of those exaggerators and alarmists considered, I turned back to those who believe that they
deserve a choice about where to obtain their legal cannabis. David Pratt, a Hyannis resident who backed
legalization, notes: “Home grow is the most important part of any legalization. Without home grow we are at the
mercy of the ‘big industry’ [prohibitionists] say they are so concerned about.”
“The will of the people has been voiced,” says Bernard of the Massachusetts Grower Advocacy Council. “Let’s
go with that before we try to break it. Nothing recreational will be out there until it all gets sorted out with the
Cannabis Commission and licensing. So really, there is no recreational market before these things are in place.
I know lots of people that would not have voted for it without the home grow provision. Changing the law this
soon is blatantly against what voters voted on.”
Mike Crawford is a medical marijuana patient,
the host of The Young Jurks on WEMF Radio, and
the author of the weekly column The Tokin’ Truth,
which is produced in coordination with the Boston
Institute for Nonprofit Journalism.
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