Cape users celebrate new law, officials warn of consequences

HYANNIS - The clock struck 4:20 p.m. Thursday and Bob Schriber, co-owner of Instant Karma on Main Street, gave away a free bong in honor of the first day marijuana became legal for recreational use in Massachusetts.

"It's a big day," co-owner Judy Dietz said earlier. "We've waited 50 years for this."

The war on drugs, declared by President Richard Nixon, failed to deter drug use, but the arrests and incarcerations have ruined lives, Dietz said.

"We've watched families be destroyed by this," she said.

Thursday marked the end of that era - at least in terms of marijuana possession.

The personal possession, use and cultivation of marijuana became legal in the state on Thursday after voters in November approved the change at the ballot box. Adults over the age of 21 may possess up to one ounce of marijuana outside the home. Inside their residence, adults may possess up to 10 ounces of marijuana for personal use. Residents are allowed to cultivate up to six marijuana plants per person with a limit of 12 plants per household.

Recreational marijuana may not be grown, processed, or sold commercially in Massachusetts without a license issued by the as-yet unformed Cannabis Control Commission. The Office of the State Treasurer is responsible for the implementation of the new law.

Pot laws by state: Colors reflect categories (click for data). Lightest colored states haven't changed. Not shown: Alaska, legal recreational marijuana use; Hawaii, legal medical marijuana use

"It's a gray area because people can legally possess it but no one can legally sell it to them," said John Scheft, an attorney with Law Enforcement Dimensions, who advises police statewide.
Users have one of three options, Scheft said.

"You can grow it yourself," he said. "You can get somebody to transfer up to an ounce to you without remuneration. And the third option, is to sell it, which is illegal."

There will be no licensed establishments that can sell the drug until January 2018 at the earliest, Scheft said.

"This is what encourages the black market," he said.

At Dietz's shop, however, the mood was celebratory. Since voters approved the new regulations, the shop has been selling raffle tickets and giving free tickets to anyone who bought a pipe. Schriber said he plans to expand his marijuana accessories section and the shop is holding weekly marijuana meetings to discuss things like how to grow the plant and how to use it in cooking.

"It's not a party," Schriber said, "It's a group discussion."

A lot has changed for long-time chef Alan Batson of West Yarmouth. He can now officially come out of the closet as a pot smoker of several decades. On Thursday he said he has been a chef at many restaurants, including the India House on Nantucket, Pastiche in Hyannis, and 323 North in Chatham.

"Every single meal I cooked in the last 30 years, I was high," Batson said. "And I was one of the best chefs in the best restaurants on the Cape."

It helped him relax at work, and it helped him with post-operative pain following back surgery, he said.

Now that recreational use is legal, Batson plans to do catering specializing in marijuana recipes, and consulting for caterers who want to cook with marijuana. He makes his own cannabis oil for cooking and can help caterers who want to have their own pot dinner parties, he said.

There are such things as weed wines and cannabis martinis, he said.

At the end of a pot-lubricated party, people leave with "a mellow buzz," Batson said.

"It's much different than the feeling you get from alcohol," he said.

Calling anti-marijuana sentiment hypocritical, Batson said alcohol has been a long-time companion to Cape Codders. In fact, according to the Boston Business Journal in 2011, Provincetown had the highest number of liquor license per capita in the state. Wellfleet ranked third in the ratio of liquor licenses to residents, the Business Journal reported. The towns of Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, Nantucket, Aquinnah, Truro, Orleans and Chatham are all in the top 25.

Pot is less harmful than alcohol and enables pain sufferers to have an alternative to deadly opioids, Batson said.

But not everyone is in party mode. Ken Weber, CEO of Recovering Champions, a substance use treatment center in Sandwich and Falmouth, said overwhelming evidence shows both marijuana and alcohol are gateway drugs. Most people in treatment for severe addiction began with booze and pot, he said.

"And now comes the marketing to a younger audience, with candy and snacks with cannabinoids in them," Weber said. "That creates a new problem for you."