Coalition Files Lawsuit Related to Marijuana Ballot Initiative

The Massachusetts Prevention Alliance, of which WaylandCares is a member, has filed a petition with the Supreme Judicial Court of Suffolk County seeking the clarification of language in a likely ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana.

The lawsuit specifically calls into question the title, statement (a sentence addressing the effect of a "yes" or "no" vote) and summary of the ballot initiative, which together "form a fabric of voter information," according to the court petition. All three items of information appear in the voter's guide the state distributes and the statement and summary also appear on the ballot itself.

Attorney General Martha Coakley's office has already certified the ballot initiative titled, "An Act for the Humanitarian Use of Medical Marijuana." Proponents of the initiative must now collect 11,485 signatures by early July to get the initiative on the November ballot.

The MAPA lawsuit argues that the current title, statement and summary for the ballot initiative are "misleading" and goes on to suggest alternate language for all three components. A press release from MAPA indicates that it anticipates the court will rule on the lawsuit prior to the the July printing and distribution of required voter's guide.

"The radical components of this marijuana ballot question are being hidden from the voter," said Heidi Heilman in a press release. Heilman serves as president of MAPA and director of WaylandCares. "The voters must be provided fair and accurate information. The Secretary of State and Attorney General have a unique responsibility to inform the voters, and we trust the Court will give them the tools to do that."

The points that MAPA would like to see the voter's guide and ballot "adequately inform" voters on include, among others:

• The "at least" 35 dispensaries proposed by the initiative would be able to sell marijuana in a variety of forms including, "food, tinctures, aerosols, oils, or ointments."
• There is no minimum age listed to obtain medical marijuana.
• While the medical conditions of "cancer, glaucoma, positive status for human immunodeficiency virus, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), hepatitis C, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Crohn's disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis" are specifically listed as the "debilitating medical conditions" that could necessitate a medical marijuana card, the initiative also allows for "other conditions as determined in writing by a qualifying patient’s physician," which MAPA argues is too broad.
• The actual amount of a 60-day supply of marijuana, which would be permitted to patients under the initiative, is undefined in the initiative itself. The initiative calls for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to define an amount that a patient "would reasonably be expected to need over a period of sixty days for their personal medical use." The initiative also states that the "presumption as to quantity may be overcome with evidence of a particular qualifying patient's appropriate medical use."
• A "hardship" application could allow patients to grow an unspecified amount of marijuana in their homes.

The Committee for Compassionate Medicine is backing the ballot initiative and said in a statement about the recently filed lawsuit that the initiative petition "clearly states that a YES vote would enact the proposed law eliminating state criminal and civil penalties related to the medical use of marijuana by qualifying patients."

The statement goes on to say that the petition initiative was purposely drafted "to make the Massachusetts medical marijuana law the safest in the country."

The text of the submitted lawsuit is available on the MAPA website.

The texts of the ballot initiative petition (11-11) as well as the attorney general's summary are available on the AG's website.