Chronicle AM: Americans Want Trump to Leave Pot States Alone, MA Legal Pot Battle in Full Swing, More... (6/22/17)

The Massachusetts House and Senate have different ideas about how to implement marijuana legalization, a new poll finds a strong majority of Americans want Trump to butt out of legal marijuana states, Wisconsin Gov. Rick Walker’s Medicaid drug testing plan has virtually no public support, and more.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]Marijuana Policy

Poll: Strong Majority of Americans Want Trump to Respect State Marijuana Laws.  A new Survey USA poll commissioned by Marijuana Majority finds that a whopping 76% of Americans want the Trump administration to respect state medical marijuana and marijuana legalization lies. There was majority support for the position about Democrats, Republicans, independents, and every age group. The 76% figure is three points higher than in a Quinnipiac poll asking a similar question in April.

Auto Insurance Study Links Increased Car Crash Claims to Legalized Marijuana. The Highway Loss Data Institute, an insurance research group, released a study Thursday saying collision claims increased 2.7% in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington after legalization when compared to neighboring non-legal states. “We believe that the data is saying that crash risk has increased in these states and those crash risks are associated with the legalization of marijuana,” said Matt Moore, senior vice president with the institute, which analyzes insurance data to observe emerging auto-safety trends. But legalization advocates pointed out that comparing claims in largely rural states such as Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to rates in more urbanized Colorado, Oregon, and Washington was problematic.

Massachusetts House Passes Bill to Repeal and Replace Voter-Approved Legalization Law. The House on Wednesday approved a bill that would raise the retail tax on marijuana from 12% to 28%, impose stringent background checks and fingerprinting for all people who own or work in licensed marijuana-related businesses, and allow localities to ban marijuana businesses without first getting voter approval. The Senate is poised to take up its own version of the bill with more modest revisions to the voter-approved law, setting the stage for a compromise in the coming week. Legalization advocates attacked the House bill as setting taxes too high and ignoring the will of the voters.

Drug Testing

Wisconsin Governor’s Plan to Drug Test Medicaid Recipients Has Virtually No Public Support. Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) plan to drug test Medicaid recipients and increase premiums has garnered a grand total of five fully positive comments out of more than a thousand submitted by the public—and one of them is from his own lieutenant governor. That’s a support rate of one half of one percent. “Drug testing has been determined to be expensive, ineffective, and illegal,” wrote Bobby Peterson, executive director of ABC for Health, a nonprofit Madison law firm that helps people get health care. “You have espoused Jesus and are embracing the devil and demons that have gained control of the political process,” said another email, the name of the sender also redacted. “May God have mercy on you in this time of reckoning for surely you are cursed.” Walker needed to give the public 30 days to comment before seeking approval from the Trump administration to move forward with its plan.