Legalizing Marijuana in the state of Massachusetts

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Legalizing marijuana in the state of Massachusetts
In this paper, the purpose is to provide a comprehensive discussion regarding the legalization of marijuana in the state of Massachusetts. The state of Massachusetts strongly supports marijuana reform. In this state, over twenty marijuana dispensaries have been approved to be launched as major strides are being undertaken in the United States to make legal the weed that was once vilified. The state is joining twenty other states across the country that permit the usage of marijuana for medical reasons (Bednar 27). Voters in the state, in 2012, endorsed the usage of medical cannabis for over 34 dispensaries, although not over 5 are to be situated within any one county. A lot of potential users of medical marijuana feel happy since they would have alternative options to pain management. Many people believe that dispensaries would offer several choices that would be certified and safe, and not originating from the black market. Nonetheless, the Massachusetts Medical Society is cautioning that there is insufficient scientific information confirming that medical marijuana is effective or safe (Zemel 56). Although the state has legalized the substance for dispensaries to open for medical reasons, the push for recreational use is a very dissimilar case. In the state of Massachusetts, marijuana substance is quickly rising, and this is largely contributed by the voter-initiative process of the state's residents. It is noteworthy that in the last 6 years, Massachusetts voters endorsed 2 ballot questions on the substance. A 2012 measure permitted the usage of the substance as medicine. Four years earlier, a measure eliminated criminal penalties for the possession of little quantities of the substance (Sullum 25). Certainly, the drinking of wine on sidewalks or restaurant patios might still be subject to lengthy negotiations with neighbors, and the smoking of cigarettes might currently be prohibited in public parks of Boston. Nonetheless, that other funny smell that one detects across Boston is precisely what one thinks it is: many people smoke a lot of weed publicly in the state of Massachusetts (Bednar 28).
Activists of the legalization of marijuana have their eyes on the state of Massachusetts for the upcoming elections in the year 2016. This might be the year that the residents of this state will make their last push for the full legalization of marijuana. In the year 2008, voters in this state decriminalized the possession of little quantities of marijuana. This made the possession of less than an ounce of the drug punishable by a fine of $100 (Ross 36). The Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Initiative, in the year 2012, passed with 63 percent of the vote. This made the state the 18th one in the country to legalize medical marijuana. In 2013 November, Bay State Repeal filed the paperwork aimed at putting the legalization of marijuana on the ball...