Gov. Charlie Baker expressed support for provisions within a House bill that would give elected officials the authority to veto dispensaries in their districts.
“This should be regulated like alcohol,” Baker told Boston Public Radio in an interview Thursday. “The decision to offer alcohol in a community is made by the elected body.”
Under current law, a vote is required to prevent the establishment of marijuana dispensaries. The initiative passed by voters would tax recreational marijuana at 12 percent. A Senate version of the bill, which passed late last month, would preserve the power of voters to decide whether or not pot shops could open in their communities, and would preserve the 12 percent tax. Legislators had hoped to send a bill to Baker’s office by the end of June, but the governor is still waiting to see the final measure.
“At this point in time … I want the legislature to come to terms with this,” Baker said. “I want them to send me a bill, I want to be able to sign the legislation and get into the business of implementing this so that we will have the recreational legal program here in Massachusetts that people want.”
Back in December, Baker described a six-month delay of the opening of retail operations “perfectly appropriate,” pushing key provisions of the law from going into immediate effect. This delay “would give people the time and the opportunity to make sure the thing got implemented right,” Baker said. “We need to put a recreational marijuana program in place in Massachusetts, but we also need to deal with issues around local control, potency, identification, packaging, labeling, edibles and public safety.”
According to Baker, elected officials (not voters) should make the decisions, because they ultimately will speak for the will of the people.
“It’s going to depend, to some extent, on what the local community is interested in,” he said. “Local elected officials are on the hook to the people in their community, we all know that.”
“I don’t know what’s going to end up coming out of the process,” Baker continued, “but what I do know is that if you regulate this like alcohol, that decision gets made by the local elected body. They’re the ones who decide where the licenses go and where they get put.”
To hear Gov. Charlie Baker’s full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio player above.
Clarification: an earlier version of this article stated that Gov. Baker expressed support for a House bill — Baker expressed support for several provisions within the bill, not the entire bill.
credit:news.wgbh.org
