The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced Wednesday that Will Luzier will lead the campaign in support of a 2016 ballot initiative to end marijuana prohibition in Massachusetts.
Luzier, a former Massachusetts assistant attorney general, served as executive director of the Massachusetts Interagency Council on Substance Abuse and Prevention from 2008 until April 2015. Previously, he served as chief of staff and general counsel to a state senator.
“Marijuana prohibition has been just as big of a failure as alcohol prohibition, and Massachusetts deserves better,” Luzier said. “Regulating marijuana like alcohol will replace the underground market with a tightly regulated system of licensed businesses. Marijuana should be sold by responsible Massachusetts companies, not violent criminals and cartels.”
The campaign also announced that Jim Borghesani has been hired to serve as communications director.
Borghesani held top communications positions in the offices of the Massachusetts governor and the Suffolk County district attorney, and he has worked for many clients in the private sector. He is a former reporter at the Patriot Ledger and the Boston Business Journal.
“Adults who consume marijuana responsibly are no more deserving of punishment than adults who enjoy a cocktail responsibly,” Borghesani said. “Regulating and taxing marijuana like alcohol makes sense. And it would make dollars. A regulated marijuana industry would generate significant new tax revenue for our state.”
The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is working with a coalition of organizations, businesses, and activists to draft an initiative for the November 2016 ballot that would end marijuana prohibition in Massachusetts and replace it with a system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol.
