The
Massachusetts Medical Society appreciates the opportunity to provide comment to
the Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy on a number of issues and bills
currently under your consideration. The Medical Society has long had an
interest in marijuana policy and its effects on the public health of the
Commonwealth, and is pleased to comment on how best to proceed in ways that
promote the health and wellness of patients now that marijuana is legal in the
state.
The
Massachusetts Medical Society continues to oppose the legalization of
recreational marijuana, as being detrimental to public health. This being said,
at a meeting of the Medical Society membership after the passage of Question 4
in November, the physician membership formally endorsed policy underscoring the
importance of remaining engaged in discussions with policymakers to advocate
for policies that will protect the health of the public.
In
crafting this new policy, the Medical Society identified priorities to help
guide an evidence-based approach to amending the new law to best mitigate the
deleterious impacts that the legalization of marijuana may have on
Massachusetts. These priorities include: preventing youth access to marijuana,
directing funding to conduct research on the health effects of recreational
marijuana, mitigating the risks of marijuana-impaired drivers, promoting
education about the health effects of recreational marijuana, and setting
safety and quality standards for marijuana products.
The
Medical Society reviewed the legislation before your committee, and wishes to
highlight several key bills we believe best promote the priorities of the
Medical Society and our mission to reduce the negative public health impacts of
Massachusetts legalization of recreational marijuana. The Medical Society is
pleased to offers strong support for the bills detailed below.
Public Health Education/Marketing –
The
Medical Society encourages the legislature to focus on preventing youth access
to marijuana by promoting accurate and responsible information and restricting
marketing and advertising to persons under 21 years of age through support of
the following three bills:
- An act relative to youth marijuana
use prevention and education - SB 1071 (Lewis)/HB 3180 (Kane): This bill implements public
health campaigns to educate youth about the health harms and risks of marijuana
use, and to encourage responsible adult use. Evidence has shown marijuana negatively
affects brain development—which continues into young adulthood. Studies have
also shown that young people who use marijuana are more likely to become
addicted and have problems in school.
- An Act to prevent adolescent
substance abuse -
SB 1097 (Flanagan): Prompts the DPH
to establish an Adolescent Substance Use Prevention and Early Intervention
Trust Fund. Marijuana is addictive; we must ensure that we have the programs
with sustained funding to prevent and treat substance use, especially in our young
people.
- An act further regulating marijuana
commercialization - SB 1067 (Lewis)/HB 3184 (Kane): This bill limits the marketing of
commercial marijuana entities to 1) signage at the marijuana establishment, and
2) marketing to customers who have opted-in to receiving information. History
and research demonstrate the negative impact youth-targeted marketing by alcohol
and tobacco companies has had on influencing young people to use their
products. Therefore, we want to make sure marijuana marketing is responsible
from the outset.
Research on Recreational Marijuana
–The Medical Society supports research on recreational
marijuana, and we support legislation that directs adequate funding to conduct
and publish research on the clinical and public health effects of recreational
marijuana, including as outlined in the following bill:
- An act relative to marijuana
research, data collection, and best practices - SB 1072 (Lewis)/HB3181 (Kane): This bill creates a comprehensive
research program to track and monitor the public health, social and economic
impacts of marijuana legalization, beginning with a baseline study. It also
funds research on effects of marijuana on the developing brain, and on
epidemiology of legalized recreational marijuana. Data is critical to
developing good policy, and to protecting the health of the public. Our public
health experience with tobacco should be a clarion call to government as we
work to set marijuana policy - We cannot allow marijuana to replace tobacco as
the next public health threat. Evidence-based research and data are the only
way we can ensure history does not repeat itself. Too many lives are at stake.
Oversight/Regulatory
Structure -
The Medical Society supports a strong
medical and public health voice in the oversight and regulatory structure. We
support amendments to the Cannabis Control Commission to provide greater public
health and substance use disorder expertise.
- Senate
bill 1064 (Lewis) - An act relative to
the regulatory authority for oversight of the recreational marijuana industry:
Expands the size of the commission tasked with licensing and oversight of the
marijuana industry, and ensures that commission members possess the necessary
experience and expertise to effectively carry out their responsibilities,
including one seat designated for an expert in public health and substance use
disorder. We know that many see this new law as opportunity for revenue and new
business. But as physicians, we also know there will be a long term public
health cost—which translates to economic and social cost—if we don’t put the
appropriate safeguards in place, and ensure that health and safety—of
consumers, industry workers, children and adolescents and the entire
population--are considerations in every regulation.
Additional Priorities of the
Medical Society
The
Medical Society remains concerned about the omission of detail throughout the
ballot initiative to detail several portions of regulations. While many
provisions of the ballot measure require regulations to be promulgated on
certain issues, such as safe packaging of edible products and the safe
cultivation practices, the lack of detail provided in the statutory charges and
lack of reference to national standards leaves the content of the regulations
entirely to the discretion of the Cannabis Control Commission. The Medical
Society urges modification of the statutory language to provide further detail
on the direction and content of the regulations. This would help ensure the
regulations on edibles are genuinely effective in limiting accidental ingestion
by children, for example, and would reduce likelihoods of contaminated
products.
The
Medical Society also shares concern about the prevention and detection of
impaired driving. The Medical Society urges further study of evidence-based
means to promote public safety.
The
Massachusetts Medical Society appreciates the opportunity to provide comment.
We hope that constructive amendments can be made so that the recreational
marijuana law is implemented in a way that limits as much as possible the
harmful effects on the health of the people of Massachusetts. Please be in
touch if the Massachusetts Medical Society can be of assistance in this regard.
