Statewide Alliance Focuses on Policy and Youth Well-Being

Local organizations and representatives from throughout Massachusetts gathered in Needham last month with two specific efforts in mind: educating the public about reducing youth substance abuse and addressing "the immediate medicinal marijuana threat in Massachusetts."

Representatives from WaylandCares, a coalition dedicated to reducing youth substance abuse in Wayland, attended that meeting at , which served as the kickoff gathering of MAPA, the Massachusetts Prevention Alliance. In fact, WaylandCares Director Heidi Heilman helped spearhead the formation of the alliance.

“The Massachusetts Prevention Alliance is a statewide organization that provides educational resources and advocates for sound public health and safety policies to protect and promote the health and well-being of all Massachusetts youth,” according to slides presented at the kickoff meeting.

The most pressing policies for the group at present, and therefore MAPA's current initiative, are those related to the legalization of medicinal marijuana.

Heilman said MAPA's focus is advocating for “good public health policy” and the alliance is not making a declaration that medicinal marijuana doesn’t have merits.

Instead, MAPA wants to “educate residents on the unintended and unforeseen consequences of MM [medicinal marijuana] policy, including youth access, perception of risk, and the bad precedent and health practice of circumventing the FDA [Federal Drug Administration] process for approval of medicine,” the meeting presentation explained.

“You don’t vote on an antibiotic,” Heilman told the group of organizational representatives from as far away as North Hampton and Gloucester, as well as those closer to home.

Kevin Sabet, a former adviser on drug policy for presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, is lending his expertise in drug legalization and medical marijuana to MAPA’s efforts.

“You don’t know the number of lives you’re touching,” Sabet told attendees at the kickoff meeting. “Future generations are going to be better off because of what you’re doing. This is a group that we want to bring together … to have a united voice on policy issues.”

There are several marijuana-related proposals currently impacting Massachusetts, including a bill for full legalization as well as a few legalizing medical marijuana under varying stipulations and regulations. A ballot initiative addressing medical marijuana could also be up for Massachusetts voters to decide in November 2012.

At the March WaylandCares meeting, Heilman said that she had recently been asked to testify before the legislature about the marijuana bills that are in process. She agreed to testify, but had to leave before her time came to speak so others in her group spoke instead.

Still, in other conversations with state legislators, Heilman said she has gotten the impression that lawmakers are wrestling with attempting to regulate marijuana through various bills in order to maintain some control rather than letting it be a ballot issue before voters.

Along those lines, Heilman raised the question at the March meeting of whether Wayland and other towns should consider preemptively enacting bylaws preventing marijuana dispensaries within the town limits. WaylandCares meeting attendees agreed that could be an issue they want to take up at a fall town meeting depending on the progression of legislation between now and then.

The website for MAPA is under construction at www.MAPreventionAlliance.org.