Indopedia All Things Marijuana
Hours before a controversial rewrite of the voter-approved measure to legalize recreational cannabis in Massachusetts was scheduled for debate, state House leaders pulled the bill, citing a need to reconsider “procedural issues.” The rewritten bill, which would have more than doubled the tax on recreational pot sales and given local authorities more power to ban canna-businesses, drew immediate and extreme criticism when it was announced yesterday.
“It will not be taken up tomorrow,” Speaker Robert A. DeLeo said. “It’s important that, with a bill of this magnitude, that we try to get it right, or as close as right the first time. And so I’d rather do that than try to rush it through tomorrow.” The Speaker said that he hoped the House would be able to vote on a tweaked version of the bill next week, so that the final version could appear before Governor Charlie Baker by the end of the month.
Governor Baker said that he was unwilling to commit to the proposed tax rate of 28 percent, because he was uncertain whether that rate would be too high, or too low. “We can always change the tax rate. We can move the tax rate up, we can move the tax rate down,”…
