Politics
Where Presidential Candidate Deval Patrick Stands On Marijuana
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) announced on November 14, 2019, that he was seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination and dropped out on February 12.
The latecomer to the race does not have an especially reform-friendly record on drug policy issues compared to many of his rival contenders. However, after launching his campaign for the White House, he came out in favor of legalization.
During his time as governor, he voiced opposition to a marijuana decriminalization proposal and raised concerns about a medical cannabis legalization measure. After voters approved that latter initiative, he said he wished the state didn’t have the program, and his administration faced criticism over its implementation.
That said, Patrick, who also served as the U.S. assistant attorney general for the civil rights division, also previously took action in support of modest proposals such as resentencing for people with non-violent drug convictions. Here’s where the former governor stands on cannabis.
This piece was last updated on February 13, 2020 to include the candidate’s statements and policy actions on marijuana since joining the race.
Legislation And Policy Actions
Patrick’s administration said that despite a marijuana decriminalization policy going into effect following the passage of a 2008 ballot initiative, law enforcement should be able to continue to search people suspected of possession. However, his office declined to approve a request from prosecutors to delay the implementation of the voter-approved policy change.
After the decriminalization proposal passed, Patrick directed the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) to develop an implementation plan.
“Our office will continue to work collaboratively with EOPSS and the district attorneys and law enforcement agencies on implementation,” a spokesperson said. “It’s an ongoing process.”
The then-governor said he would work to toughen up enforcement of fines levied against people possessing marijuana.
“The bottom line is the governor believes that if people are fined they should pay the fines,” a spokesperson for his administration said.
Following the passage of a 2012 medical cannabis initiative in Massachusetts, Patrick said simply that the “voters have voted,” and pledged that he wouldn’t seek to repeal the law.
But there were some complications that arose during his administration’s medical marijuana licensing approval process.
In February 2014, Patrick contradicted the state health department, which had recently announced that 20 business licenses had been accepted.
“No licenses have been given. No provisional licenses have been given. What we have is a multi-step process of screening out applicants,” he said. “Don’t get ahead of where we are. There was a balance struck here about trying to let the public in through transparency to the process even though the process was unfinished.”
When reports emerged that certain medical cannabis applicants had apparently provided false or misleading information in their application forms, Patrick said “[n]o good dead goes unpunished.”
“Rather than wait till the end when all that vetting and screening had been done, we’re going to do that first cut from 100 [applicants] down to 20, and we’re going to tell everybody,”
The next month, he dismissed requests for a review of the licensing process by applicants who the health department had rejected.
“I don’t think we gain anything by starting over,” he said. “We are in the middle of a process. Nobody has a license, no one is going to get a license until we meet the standards of the application process.”
Patrick was also criticized for failing to follow up with patient advocates who urged him to effectively implement the program.
“It appears the governor wants to skip out of office without addressing medical marijuana because he doesn’t want to talk about it and he doesn’t want to deal with it,” Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance Executive Director Matthew Allen said in 2014.
Patrick’s successor, Gov. Charlie Baker (R), overhauled his predecessor’s medical cannabis licensing process to create “a more streamlined, efficient, and transparent process that allows the Commonwealth to maintain the highest standards of both public safety and accessibility.”
The head of the state’s Public Health Department said in 2015 that complications associated with implementing the licensing program under Patrick left her agency with a deficit of more than $1 million.
When Baker’s applications for medical cannabis licensing reopened under Patrick’s revised system, entrepreneurs flooded the office. The new licensing scheme was designed to remove elements of secrecy and subjectivity from the process under Patrick’s administration.
Despite opposing marijuana decriminalization and expressing concerns about medical cannabis legalization, the governor did sign several drug policy reform bills during his time in office.
Patrick signed legislation in 2012 that reduced mandatory minimum sentences for people with non-violent drug convictions. He’d introduced a package of bills that included a call for the repeal of such mandatory minimums the previous year, earning praise from reform advocates.
“We need an effective and accountable re-entry program for those leaving the criminal justice system,” Patrick said in a statement. “Combining probation and parole, and requiring supervision after release, takes the best practices from other states to assure both public safety and cost savings.”
Another piece of legislation the then-governor proposed was to reduce the scope of “drug-free school zones,” where people charged with drug crimes would face mandatory minimum sentences. He recommended reducing the size of these zones from within 1,000 feet of a school to 100 feet.
Patrick signed off on a bill in 2014 to expand access to drug treatment.
“This bill creates some new rules and new tools for us to use together to turn to our brothers and sisters who are dealing with these illnesses and addiction and help them help themselves,” he said.
But in 2012, Patrick signed a bill prohibiting certain synthetic drugs called “bath salts.”
On The Campaign Trail
Patrick said in December 2019 that he’s in favor of federally legalizing marijuana—a significant shift from his prior resistance to even modest reform. In an interview, the candidate said “I don’t think I ever expressed opposition, it just wasn’t high on my own list of priorities.”
Q Do you regret opposition to decriminalized marijuana as MA Gov & are you in support of legalization today?
PATRICK: "I am, I don't think I ever expressed opposition, it just wasn't high on my own list of priorities… there are concerns who participates in that industry" https://t.co/zyzsZWuxUB pic.twitter.com/rULaz3VBlY
— Justin Chermol (@justin_chermol) December 13, 2019
Part of Patrick’s criminal justice reform agenda that he rolled out involves “an end to the criminal prohibition on marijuana,” “treating those dealing with substance use disorders as patients instead of criminals” and “sentencing reform that provides non-violent drug offenders a real chance at re-entering society.”
The former governor’s campaign website also says his agenda involves “making meaningful fixes to the big systems that consistently fail to meet modern needs.”
“This means a justice system that focuses less on warehousing people than on preparing them to re-enter responsible life,” the site says.
Previous Quotes And Social Media Posts
In 2007, a spokesperson for Patrick’s office said the governor would veto a proposed marijuana possession decriminalization bill. Patrick told the Associated Press that he had other priorities when asked whether he would sign the legislation.
He was listed as a supporter for a campaign that opposed the 2008 decriminalization ballot measure that voters later approved.
Several news reports from the time also noted that Patrick stood opposed to the modest proposal to remove criminal penalties for low-level cannabis possession.
Oddly, two years earlier, Patrick was asked about a decriminalization proposal during a debate and said that while he’s “very comfortable with the idea of legalizing marijuana,” he doesn’t “think it ought to be our priority.” He went on to say that he would veto a proposed decriminalization measure in the legislature.
Massachusetts voters also approved a 2012 medical cannabis initiative while Patrick was in office—in spite of the fact that he declined to endorse the measure.
Asked about the proposal during a radio interview with WBZ, the then-governor first cited an argument in support of legalization made by conservative author William F. Buckley Jr., who said regulating drug sales would remove a profit motive for illicit dealers. Yet he went on to say that “I’m not endorsing” the initiative.
“I’m not expressing a point of view and I’m not dodging, it’s just I’ve got so much else I’m working on,” he said.
The host asked if Patrick would implement the law if voters approved it and he said “that’s, I think, what we’re supposed to do.”
In September 2012, he said that he doesn’t “have a lot of enthusiasm for the medical marijuana” measure, which was set to go before voters two months later.
“I mean I have heard the views on both sides and I’m respectful of the views of both sides, and I don’t have a lot of energy around that,” he said. “I think California’s experience has been mixed, and I’m sympathetic to the folks who are in chronic pain and looking for some form of relief.”
“I really have to defer to the medical views about this and individuals will get a chance to vote on this,” Patrick said in April 2012. “I haven’t been paying much attention to it.”
While his administration struggled to implement the program after voters had approved it, Patrick said in August 2014 that “I wish frankly we didn’t have medical marijuana.”
Responding to q abt medical marijuana dispensaries in westrn Mass @massgovernor says "Look, I wish frankly we didn't have medical marijuana"
— Sharman Sacchetti (@SharmanTV) August 20, 2014
Patrick doesn’t appear to have publicly weighed in during the Massachusetts campaign about legalizing marijuana for adult-use, which voters approved in 2016 after he had left office.
In 2012, Patrick said during a State of the State Address that Massachusetts should reevaluate how it treats people convicted of non-violent drug offenses.
“In these cases, we have to deal with the fact that simply warehousing non-violent offenders is a costly policy failure,” he said. “Our spending on prisons has grown 30 percent in the past decade, much of that because of longer sentences for first-time and nonviolent drug offenders. We have moved, at massive public expense, from treatment for drug offenders to indiscriminate prison sentences, and gained nothing in public safety.”
“We need more education and job training, and certainly more drug treatment, in prisons and we need mandatory supervision after release,” he said. “And we must make non-violent drug offenders eligible for parole sooner.”
He also said that the “biggest problem is that our approach to public safety has been to warehouse people,” and that the “answer is new policies, not bigger warehouses.”
“We’ve been warehousing people for whom what they really need is treatment and not just time,” he said during a town hall event in 2009.
Patrick voiced support in 2006 for a bill that would legalize the over-the-counter sale of needles in order to prevent the spread of disease.
“Deval Patrick supports this legislation because he believes it will reduce dangerous diseases in our state,” a campaign spokesperson said. “Studies in other states have shown that programs such as these decrease the rates of disease infection without increasing drug use.”
Patrick later criticized then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) for vetoing the legislation, stating that the official “put misguided ideology before leadership in public health.”
Personal Experience With Marijuana
Patrick said in 2012 that he has never “experienced marijuana myself” but that during his school years there “was probably enough around me that there was a second-hand, a contact-high.”
Marijuana Under A Patrick Presidency
It is difficult to assess how Patrick would approach federal marijuana policy if elected president, but his vocal opposition to decriminalization in Massachusetts and his administration’s troubled implementation of medical cannabis legalization is likely to give advocates pause.
That said, his newfound support for legalization is notable.
But for the time being, it appears that Patrick would not make marijuana reform as much of a priority as many of his fellow candidates.
Where Presidential Candidate Mark Sanford Stands On Marijuana
Politics
National Hemp Association Asks Congress To Budget $1 Billion To Support Industry Innovation
A national hemp trade organization is asking U.S. House of Representatives leadership to attach $1 billion in funding to budget reconciliation legislation to support industry innovation and research on the crop.
The National Hemp Association (NHA), which says it represents 90 percent of state hemp permit holders across the U.S., recently wrote a letter to top lawmakers with a proposed amendment that is meant to boost the industry as it works to find its footing after the plant was legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill.
The money, if allocated, will allow federal officials “to empower hemp farmers, processors, and related businesses to compete globally, sequester unprecedented amounts of carbon, remediate contaminated soil and water, provide funding and jobs to traditionally disadvantaged members of the farming community, and much more,” the organization wrote to lawmakers.
This would be a good way for government to invest in infrastructure, mitigate climate change and create good paying jobs!
https://t.co/JnmIhfxR4o— National Hemp Assoc. (@NatHempAssoc) September 8, 2021
“History confirms that the world looks to America to lead change, be it industrial, cultural or environmental,” Geoff Whaling, chair of NHA, said in a press release. “This is more true today than ever before, as we look to combat the global climate crisis affecting humankind.”
“We know American ingenuity will drive many of these solutions and can do so with plant-based technologies,” he added. “Hemp, America’s newest commodity crop, will be at the forefront of this regenerative economic and social shift; helping create jobs, clean our soil and air, and introduce sustainable new products once only dreamed about.”
Here are the main components of the proposed $1 billion hemp request:Â
-$100 million each for four “regional super sites” of hemp production in Oregon, Michigan, New York and Florida.
-$120 million for farms qualifying as “historically underserved.”
-$380 million “divided according to hemp farm acreage calculations.” Ten percent of that would be distributed to states, tribes and territories for “education, enforcement, and regulation of the hemp industry.” Funds would also go to grants to hemp companies of up to $3 million each to help them purchase equipment “that allows a farmer to harvest or cultivate a hemp plant, a manufacturer to extract, decort, degum, flavor, can, pack, mold, press and/or any other machinery that uses the hemp plant or any derivatives of the hemp plant to create a product or work in progress.”
“As you consider the budget reconciliation for our nation, we sincerely ask that you consider hemp,” the association and officials from other state and national hemp groups wrote in the letter to lawmakers. “Our industry is nascent but can achieve the greatness of other agricultural crops, and perhaps more still, given parallel levels of support to create infrastructure and develop markets. With adequate, specifically applied resources farmers shall possess a level playing field to move the hemp industry to the next level.”
Whether leadership is amenable to accepting the proposed request is yet to be seen. But the burgeoning hemp industry has continued to receive bipartisan support in Congress.
And while The U.S. Department of Agricultures’s (USDA) final rule for hemp took effect on March 22, the agency is evidently still interested in gathering information to further inform its regulatory approach going forward. For example, the agency announced last month that it is moving forward with a large-scale survey to gain insight into the hemp market.
USDA has also continued to approve state regulatory plans for the crop. Recently, the agency accepted a hemp plan submitted by Colorado, where officials have consistently insisted that the state intends to be a leader in the space.
Meanwhile, representatives of the USDA under President Joe Biden’s administration held their first meeting with hemp industry stakeholders in January to learn about the market’s needs.
The talk “went extremely well,” National Industrial Hemp Council board chair Patrick Atagi, who was appointed by USDA and the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in February to serve on a federal trade advisory committee, told Marijuana Moment at the time.
Read the NHA letter to congressional leaders on the proposed hemp funding amendment below:Â
NHA Hemp Letter by Marijuana Moment
New York Senator Wants To Give Cities More Time To Ban Marijuana Businesses As Regulations Develop
Photo courtesy of Brendan Cleak.
Politics
New York Senator Wants To Give Cities More Time To Ban Marijuana Businesses As Regulations Develop
A New York senator wants to give local jurisdictions another year to decide whether they will opt out of allowing marijuana businesses to operate in their area—a proposal that advocates say is unnecessary and would create undue complications for the industry.
As it stands under the adult-use legalization law that former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed in March, municipalities must determine whether they will opt out of permitting marijuana retailers or social consumption sites by December 31, 2021. Sen. George Borrello (R) introduced legislation on Friday that would push that deadline back one year.
The senator argues that the delay is necessary because Cuomo failed to make key regulatory appointments to oversee the market in a timely manner before resigning amid a sexual harassment scandal. His replacement, newly inaugurated Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), has since nominated two of four regulatory seats she’s been tasked with filling, both of whom were confirmed by the Senate last week.
One will lead the state’s Office of Cannabis Management, while the other will chair the Cannabis Control Board. Hochul’s remaining two appointments to the board will not be subject to Senate confirmation.
The legislature was also tasked with making two appointments for the board. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D) announced their picks this week.
Borrello isn’t satisfied with the latest developments, however. He said that local officials who he’s met with have expressed “frustration at the lack of information available on what a legalized market will look like” and need more time.
“Local elected officials are being asked to make important decisions with zero information,” he said in a press release. “It is unfair of the state to maintain the original deadline when implementation of the law is at least six months behind.”
Even if the governor and legislature immediately confirmed the necessary appointments, the senator said “the timeline that was projected in March is no longer feasible.”
“No one benefits by forcing municipalities to make a hasty decision when they still have so many questions about how sales will be regulated,” Borrello said. “Extending the opt-out period is a common sense step. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this effort to give our communities added time to make these important decisions.”
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Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,200 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
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Advocates aren’t buying the argument, however. And while two more regulatory appointments still need to be made, they say that local lawmakers have clear guidance written into the Marijuana Regulation & Taxation Act (MRTA) that should effectively guide their decision-making on whether to accept cannabis businesses by the initial December 31 deadline.
“The MRTA is clear about the parameters and principles that will guide New York’s adult-use program,” Melissa Moore, New York state director of the Drug Policy Alliance, told Marijuana Moment. “There is no reason to further delay being able to get the program up and running and no excuse for blocking New Yorkers who want to establish cannabis-related small businesses from being able to move forward knowing their municipality will indeed permit their business to operate.”
“As with other businesses, jurisdictions still have a great degree of control over the details of business operation—such as time, place, and manner,” she added. “Legalization of adult-use cannabis has broad support across the state, with one recent poll even showing that people who were opposed to legalization responded that they would likely visit a dispensary following legalization.”
“It’s time to move New York forward into the new era of marijuana justice without further snags and excuses.”
Additionally, lawmakers aren’t even expected to meet again before December 31, meaning that Borrello’s legislation is not likely to have a chance to be enacted in time, though it could theoretically advance later and give localities more time to decide whether to ban marijuana retailers and consumption facilities after the current deadline lapses.
Hochul has made clear that standing up New York’s marijuana market is a priority, and she’s been working with leaders on how to move the process forward.
The governor said at a press conference recently that getting the cannabis industry moving is “very important to me,” adding that naming regulators are among the “long-overdue decisions pertaining to establishing cannabis in the state of New York.”
Under New York’s legalization law, the independent Office of Cannabis Management within the New York State Liquor Authority was established and will be responsible for regulating the recreational cannabis market as well as the existing medical marijuana and hemp programs. It will be overseen by a five-member Cannabis Control Board.
As it stands, adults 21 and older can possess up to three ounces of cannabis or 24 grams of concentrates in New York—and they can also smoke marijuana in public anywhere tobacco can be smoked—but there aren’t any shops open for business yet.
The recent appointments are welcome news for advocates who had grown frustrated with Cuomo for slow-walking the appointments. There were serious disagreements between the former administration and lawmakers about who to appoint, but they’re encouraged by the new governor’s moves that signal her administration will be proactive in getting the regulatory infrastructure set up in a timely manner.
Adding pressure to get the market up and running is the fact that regulators in neighboring New Jersey recently released rules for its adult-use marijuana program, which is being implemented after voters approved a legalization referendum last year.
When it comes to Hochul’s overall stance on cannabis policy, she was a consistent advocate for the prior administration’s legalization plan and said the reform was “long overdue” for New York. She also defended Cuomo’s proposal in the face of criticism of various provisions from some advocates, but she told Marijuana Moment in January that there was room for amendments, many of which were made to address activists’ concerns.
While serving as lieutenant governor, Hochul said in an interview with Cheddar that she wants to ensure that the emerging industry is equitable and that “communities of color will understand exactly what’s involved in applying for these licenses as soon as they’re available.”
California Smokable Hemp Bill Heads To Governor, While Measure On Cannabis Use In Hospitals Advances
Photo courtesy of WeedPornDaily.
Politics
California Bills On Smokable Hemp, CBD Foods And Cannabis Use In Hospitals Head To Governor’s Desk
California cannabis advocates scored a pair of victories in the state legislature this week. Lawmakers sent a bill to the governor’s desk to set up a regulatory framework for hemp-derived CBD sales that also removes the ban on smokable hemp products, and they also approved a measure to require hospitals to permit medical marijuana use by certain patients.
State Sen. Ben Hueso (D) has been fighting for his measure to allow cannabis use in medical facilities for terminally ill patients for multiple sessions. He recently sent a letter to the head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeking clarification on whether the policy change could jeopardize federal funding for those facilities.
His bill to codify that hospitals can, in fact, allow select patients to use cannabis cleared the Assembly in a 57-1 vote on Thursday, and the Senate signed off on the other chamber’s recent amendments in a 36-1 vote on Friday.
“For many Californians, particularly terminally-ill patients, medicinal cannabis is a preferred alternative to other drugs, providing therapeutic relief without the caveats that may come with other medicines,” Eddie Franco, legislative and regulatory affairs manager at CCIA, told Marijuana Moment.
The bill “marks an opportunity for California to continue to lead the way in cannabis regulation and reform,” he said.
Confusion about possible implications for permitting marijuana consumption in health facilities led pro-legalization Newsom to veto an earlier bill meant to address the issue in 2019. Representatives from both HHS and the governor’s office have recently reached out to Hueso to say they’re continuing to look into the matter.
The senator’s legislation was partly inspired by the experience of a father whose son died from cancer and was initially denied access to cannabis at a California hospital. Jim Bartell did eventually find a facility that agreed to allow the treatment, and he has said his son’s quality of life improved dramatically in those last days.
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Marijuana Moment is already tracking more than 1,200 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they don’t miss any developments.
Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)hasn’t yet signaled whether he now feels comfortable approving the use-in-hospitals legislation, SB 311. But when it comes to the hemp bill, stakeholders say they’ve reached an agreement with the administration.
AB 45 would “explicitly permit the sale of hemp-derived extracts such as CBD” outside of licensed marijuana dispensaries, the U.S. Hemp Roundtable said in an action alert after it passed the Senate in a 29-2 vote on Wednesday. The Assembly concurred with amendments and gave final passage to the bill in a 56-3 vote on Thursday.
The state’s ban on smokable hemp products would be lifted for out-of-state sale effective upon enactment, but a tax would need to be established for such smokable products in-state before they could be marketed in California. Once sales begin, the products couldn’t be sold to people under 21 or contain flavoring or additives.
Hemp-derived cannabinoids such as CBD would be allowed in foods, beverages, cosmetics and dietary supplements, and hemp manufacturers would need to register with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH).
CDPH would be authorized to “determine maximum serving sizes, active cannabinoid concentration per serving size and number of servings per container, and any other requirements for foods and beverages,” according to a legislative analysis.
The state Department of Cannabis Control would be required to “prepare a report to the governor outlining the steps necessary to allow for the incorporation of hemp cannabinoids into the cannabis supply chain” by July 1, 2022.
In disappointing news for drug policy reform advocates this session, a Senate-passed bill to legalize possession of a wide range of psychedelics such as psilocybin and ayahuasca has stalled this year following a decision by the sponsor that more time is needed to build the case for the reform and solidify its chances of being enacted next year. The senator said in a forum this week, however, that he is confident the bill will ultimately pass—and that the state will eventually decriminalize all drugs.
California Senator Explains Next Steps For Psychedelics And Broader Drug Reform After Bill Stalls
Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.
