New England Public Radio

Ads on Craigslist Sell A Plastic Bag Filled With A ‘Gift’ Of Marijuana

In November, voters approved a ballot question that allows adults over 21 to possess and grow small amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts. It’s still illegal for individuals to sell it, but one salesperson is openly trying to work around the law.

This past week, some ads on the Craigslist page for Western Massachusetts offered “dispensary grade marijuana.” They appeared just days after Governor Charlie Baker signed a bill delaying legal retail sales of marijuana until the middle of 2018.

An ad posted to “farm & garden services” on the Western Massachusetts Craigslist. (Screen shot taken Jan. 2, 2017)

One of these ads offered sandwich bags containing a gram to just under an ounce of various “strains” for $20 to $325, but it ends with a disclaimer: “I am selling you an empty bag. Marijuana placed In that empty sandwich bag is simply a legal gift.”

But is it?

“The ads are illegal,” Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said. “It’s illegal to sell marijuana in Massachusetts even with the new ballot initiative.”

The new law does allow legal gifts of up to an ounce, but the gift cannot be advertised to the public.

Section 7. Personal use of marijuana […] (4) giving away or otherwise transferring without remuneration up to 1 ounce of marijuana…to a person 21 years of age or older, as long as the transfer is not advertised or promoted to the public.” — text of ballot question

And Sullivan said pretending to sell a bag is a complete end run around the law.

“To say an empty baggie costs $350 is ridiculous,” he said. “I think it’s a clear fraud on its face.”

Sullivan said he’ll ask police to investigate.

(Combined screen shots of some texts we received on Jan. 2, 2017, from the number listed on the Craigslist ad.)

We texted the phone number listed on the Craigslist ad, asking for comment.

The response, from someone who said he was going by the name Corey Hampton, said his friend cards customers to make sure they’re at least 21. And as for the DA’s statement about the ads?

“I just think it’s foolish to waste any more of the taxpayers money on a harmless plant that helps people,” the text read.

But even someone who worked to get the marijuana ballot initiative passed doesn’t support sales like this. Jim Borghesani of the “Yes On 4” coalition said when you regulate marijuana, it means buyers can be assured they’re getting a safe, tested substance and children won’t be able to buy it.

“You need to have somebody who is actually a licensed seller who checks IDs [and] who operates in a licensed facility sell the product,” said Borghesani. “I think it comes down to public safety and — frankly — consumer protection.”

Meanwhile, Massachusetts U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is working to make sure those who sell marijuana legally can deposit their earnings in banks. That would help ensure they pay taxes, bringing marijuana sales clearly into the open.

More transparent than selling plastic bags.

New England Public Radio’s Carrie Healy contributed to this report.

What Will Marijuana Legalization Mean For Mass. Law Enforcement?

Big changes are ahead for Massachusetts, after voters legalized the recreational use of marijuana through a ballot question this week. State officials are now looking to create regulations for the sale and use of a drug, which is still illegal on the federal level.

RELATED: Top Mass. Marijuana Regulator Looks To Raise Taxes, Slow Down Timeline For Retail

For more on what legalization means for law enforcement, we turned to Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan. His district covers Hampshire and Franklin Counties and the Worcester County town of Athol. Sullivan opposed the ballot question, and he said he’d like to see legislators make changes to the law.

Click the audio player above to hear Henry Epp’s conversation with Sullivan on the implications of marijuana legalization for local law enforcement.

Gathering In Greenfield, Businesses and Officials Say Rehab, Job Training Key To Opioid Recovery

As Massachusetts continues to grapple with heroin overdoses, the conversation in Greenfield Friday morning turned to rehabilitation and job training. More than a hundred business owners and government officials were there, including Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan.

“I think we understand now [that] we can’t arrest or incarcerate our way out of this opioid crisis,” Sullivan says. “And here today, was about how business and communities can come together and help people who have substance abuse issues.”

Franklin County is still without a rehab facility, but funding and site location are in the works. For now, Sullivan says it’s like “scrambled eggs” for those seeking treatment.

“They could end up [in] New Bedford. They could end up in Pittsfield. They could end up anywhere in New England, and many times they can’t access those because they don’t have the insurance,” he says. “So my mantra is we need treatment-on-demand the way we have prison-on-demand.”

Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey say the opioid crisis remains a top priority for the state.

Massachusetts State Police Open Drug Testing Facility At Springfield Crime Lab

The Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory in Springfield now includes a new drug testing facility that officials say should reduce a backlog in drug evidence cases.

Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan says delays in testing drugs have led to the dismissal of charges against some defendants. He says the new drug lab should speed up the process.

“It brings a nationally certified lab into western Mass, so that everybody knows that when these drugs are tested that they are in fact what they are purported to be.”

And that’s crucial, Sullivan says, after the scandal at a state lab in Boston, where a former chemist admitted to faking tests in drug cases involving some 40,000 people. And he says the closure of a drug lab at UMass-Amherst in 2011 contributed to the backlog when evidence seized in western Massachusetts had to be sent out of the region for testing.

“It will modernize the testing. And it will make sure that defendants don’t wait long periods of time to have their drug tested so they can resolve their case or go to trial.”

Sullivan says it will also mean that state lab chemists who are subpoenaed to testify in drug cases won’t have to travel as far to do so.

 

At Conference On Western Mass. Heroin ‘Crisis,’ Officials Call For New Funding

Hundreds of people packed a conference on opiate addiction at Greenfield Community College Monday. Some local and state officials used the venue to appeal for more state money for treatment.

Law enforcement and public health officials have a long list of potential solutions to what they call an opiate “crisis” in western Massachusetts.

“Immediate solutions are to make sure that we have more treatment and detoxification beds in western Mass. so people can get immediate care,” says Northwestern District Attorney Dave Sullivan. “The other is to restrict the amount of prescription pain medications that are given out to patients everyday.”

On the law enforcement side, Paula Carey, Chief Justice of the state trial court, says Massachusetts needs more specialty “drug courts.”

“What we’re proposing is eight drug courts, some may end up being regional courts, as we begin to roll out further intensive efforts to address the issues of addiction,” Carey says.

All those efforts will take state money. At the conference, State Senator Stan Rosenberg of Amherst says combating opiate addiction is a budget priority this year, but didn’t specify how much the legislature might dedicate to the problem.