AG Healey Rips Pot Industry, Calls For Defeat of Question 4

Maura Healey (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

BOSTON (AP) — The state’s top law enforcement official says if recreational marijuana is legalized in Massachusetts, companies that sell pot would “always put profits ahead of people.”

Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, said the industry has signaled that it would resist attempts to impose limits on the potency of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana.

Question 4 on Tuesday’s ballot would legalize possession of small amounts of recreational marijuana for adults and allow for retail sales of the drug, including in the form of edible products.

Healey was joined Thursday by health care professionals and other critics who called for defeat of the ballot question.

While the measure includes no specific reference to potency limits, supporters say a new Cannabis Control Commission would have authority to regulate sales of the drug.