2018 MA Governor's race: on Drugs

Setti Warren: End mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes

Bob Massie: End mandatory minimums for low level drug offenses

Highlights from Criminal Justice Reform bill:
• Ending Mandatory Minimums: Eliminates statutory sentences for many low-level, non-violent drug offenses.
• Expungement: Courts will now be able to expunge juvenile and young adult (18-21) records, and cases where an offense is no longer a crime.
• Diversion: to address the opioid epidemic, district attorneys must create pre-arraignment diversion programs for individuals with addiction or mental health issues [currently only available to defendants aged 22 and under).

Setti Warren: Combat opioid addiction by funding treatment

The decision was based on questions about whether there is sufficient money in the state budget. "Since it is the only shelter that does not require sobriety, the staff and volunteers at Craig's Place are also on the front lines of fighting the growing opioid epidemic," Warren said. The governor, he added, should be providing help, not hindering the work and putting the shelter into a state of emergency for no good reason.

Charlie Baker: Legal marijuana sales in Massachusetts by 2020

This legislative outcome means that by January 2020, Massachusetts will be the only state in the country where all bans on adult-use marijuana businesses will require approval by local voters.

The compromise bill's most significant changes relate to local control and taxes. The legislation adjusts the local control policy, allowing local government officials in towns that voted "no" on the 2016 ballot initiative to ban marijuana businesses until December 2019. For towns that voted "yes" in 2016, any bans must be placed on a local ballot for voters to approve. The maximum sales tax rate (which depends on whether towns adopt optional local taxes) will increase from 12% to 20%. Under the bill, the state tax will be 17% and the local option will be 3%.

Bob Massie: Supports legal marijuana from local businesses

Jay Gonzalez: Support addicts and get them on a path to recovery

A: This is a huge crisis in our state. It is ruining people's lives. It is tearing families apart. When I was CEO of my health insurance company, (CeltiCare Health) the biggest health problem that people my company served faced was addiction. It was the biggest cause of hospitalizations, drug costs, everything. So we really focused on what can we do differently to help support our members who are suffering from addiction and get them on a path to recovery. There's no silver bullet solution, but we're not doing nearly enough right now. We need to invest in the treatment and support system so that we've got the capacity to address the demand. Part of what's happening is there aren't enough of the right treatment facilities for people to access when they need them, depending on the type of treatment they need when they're in recovery, so they're dropping out and falling off of recovery.

Jay Gonzalez: Ok to tweak marijuana law, but the people have spoken

A: The people have spoken and we have an obligation as a state to implement the law as passed by the voters. I think we need to implement it thoughtfully, though. We need to keep public safety at the forefront. I do think there's a role for the legislature to play now to review the law and make tweaks to those ends, but I think they need to do it as quickly as they can while maintaining the fundamental premise that was passed by voters.

Q: There's been some discussion about how much control local officials will have over allowing recreational marijuana in their own community. Do you support local communities having more or less control?

A: My personal feeling is that localities should have some level of control, but I would be deferential to whatever the ballot question that was passed says on that point.