A former U.S. labor secretary who previously served as mayor of Boston as Massachusetts\u2019s marijuana legalization law came into effect, spoke out against what he described as a \u201cslippery slope\u201d of cannabis reform during a C-SPAN interview this week.<\/p>\n
Marty Walsh, who also discussed his own substance use disorder and recovery in the interview, said he\u2019s \u201cworried\u201d about legalization efforts and gets \u201cconcerned about where we\u2019re headed there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked how he felt about his state\u2019s move to legalize, the former Biden cabinet member replied: \u201cI didn\u2019t love it. When I was mayor of Boston, I fought it. I get concerned. I think it\u2019s a slippery slope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walsh, who opposed the 2016 ballot initiative to legalize marijuana in his state and later voted against a proposed Democratic National Committee party plank to endorse cannabis legalization<\/a> in 2020, noted that advocates at first seemed to want to decriminalize marijuana, then later pushed legalize it for medical uses.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now you have marijuana\u201d legal for adults, he added. \u201cAnd I\u2019m just worried, you know. You have have some places in the country trying to legalize it and opioids. I get concerned about that. I just get concerned about where we\u2019re headed there.\u201d<\/p>\n Later in the interview, he claimed that \u201calcohol deaths are higher than, actually, opioid deaths at this point in our country,\u201d and argued that manufacturers of dangerous or impairing substances should be liable for costs of therapy and recovery.<\/p>\n Opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma, he said, \u201cenraged me and lots of people with what they got away with.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you think about advertising for alcohol, or marijuana now, when you put an advertisement on a train\u2026you\u2019re targeting young people,\u201d Walsh said. \u201cYou already have the 25 year old. You don\u2019t have to put a fancy thing there for an ad for alcohol for a 25 year old. But you\u2019re targeting younger people. We have to be sensitive to all that, and I think that in some of these cases, these companies who are responsible for the devastation they\u2019re causing should be paying some money into fix that devastation.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite opposing legalization of marijuana generally, Walsh nevertheless was supportive of President Joe Biden\u2019s pardons of people with low-level federal marijuana offenses<\/a> on their records. In 2022, he pledged to work diligently to make sure people who were pardoned saw relief.<\/p>\n \u201cI commend the president for his actions,\u201d he said at the time. \u201cWe\u2019re going to work with [those who were pardoned] to make sure that they can get into good employment\u2014that this is not an impediment to their ability to get into the middle class and get a good-paying job.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Walsh continues to oppose legalization nearly eight years after Massachusetts adopted the reform, a recent poll found that 65 percent of Bay State residents think the decision to legalize cannabis<\/a> was the right move.<\/p>\n Majority Of Americans Say Marijuana Banking Bill Would Promote Public Safety And Help Underserved Communities, Financial Association Poll Finds<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Former Biden Cabinet Member Is \u2018Concerned\u2019 About Marijuana Legalization<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
A former U.S. labor secretary who previously served as mayor of Boston as Massachusetts\u2019s marijuana legalization law came into effect, spoke out against what he described as a \u201cslippery slope\u201d of cannabis reform during a C-SPAN interview this week. Marty Walsh, who also discussed his own substance use disorder andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74935"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74935"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74936,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74935\/revisions\/74936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\nRead More: Former Biden Cabinet Member Is \u2018Concerned\u2019 About Marijuana Legalization<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"