Wednesday 2 November 2016

Anti-marijuana legalization campaign launches television ad with Mass. Trooper Thomas Clardy's wife urging 'No on 4'

By Gintautas Dumcius 
 
BOSTON - "No on 4," the group opposing a ballot question that would legalize marijuana for recreational and commercial use in Massachusetts, has Reisa Clardy, the wife of Mass. State Trooper Thomas Clardy, making the closing argument for their cause.

Trooper Clardy was killed earlier this year after he was hit by a driver who was allegedly marijuana-impaired.

His wife Reisa, who appeared in an online video for "No on 4" weeks ago, is now featured in a 30 second ad that will be airing in the Boston and Springfield television markets.

"If it can happen to my family, it can happen to anybody's," she said. "Why would we take this risk, right now?"

If legalization passes, "there's going to be more accidents, there's going to be more fatalities. You're going to have more families that are going to be without their loved ones," she added.

"Yes on 4," the group proposing the legalization of marijuana, says the substance would be tightly regulated by a new Cannabis Control Commission.

"Driving while intoxicated is illegal now and it will remain illegal if Question 4 passes," Jim Borghesani, spokesman for "Yes on 4," said in an email. "Voters should know that there have been no increases in OUI marijuana driving arrests or fatalities in any of the four legal states, or in any of the 26 states with medical marijuana laws or the 16 states that have decriminalized marijuana."

Borghesani called Trooper Clardy's death a "tragedy," adding, "However, voters should make their decision on November 8 with full knowledge of the facts."

Marijuana activists, on the national and local level, as well as a political action committee with ties to a late Ohio insurance executive, have been funneling money towards the "Yes" side.

On the "No" side, the Archdiocese of Boston donated $850,000. The liquor industry, the Knights of Columbus, Partners HealthCareand billionaire Sheldon Adelson has also provided funds for the anti-legalization effort.

Question 4 is one of four ballot questions voters will decide when they head to the polls on Nov. 8.
Massachusetts voters legalized marijuana for medical use in 2012, four years after voting to decriminalizing small amounts of the substance.

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