A national group representing Black police officers is joining with Massachusetts law enforcement officials in urging voters in the state to reject a ballot measure that would roll back the state’s marijuana legalization law. The National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers (NABLEO) on Monday announced its endorsement for the No On 8 campaign.
The announcement came as a group of more than 50 current and former law enforcement officials separately signed an open letter opposing the anti-cannabis initiative on Tuesday’s ballot.
“A return to the prohibition and criminalizing of cannabis commerce will only increase demands on already over-burdened law enforcement resources and raise serious questions regarding enforcement priorities, consumer safety and the effective use of public resources,” NABLEO Chairman Lieutenant Charles Wilson (Ret.) said.
Current and former police officials from Massachusetts and other states signed a letter arguing that “repealing legal, regulated sales would not eliminate demand for marijuana or meaningfully reduce its consumption” and would instead “only strip the market of the licensing, testing and accountability the current regulatory system provides, pushing transactions toward sellers with no age checks, no product standards, and no legal responsibility to consumers or the state.”
“Many of us spent our careers enforcing marijuana laws,” the letter, signed by former Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Superintendent Michael Moore, former Massachusetts State Trooper Karen Hawkes, former Assistant Attorney General John Amabile, former Massachusetts Juvenile Court First Justice Jay D. Blitzman and former Brockton Police Department Detective Kenneth Williams, among others, said.
The signers include current and former officials from departments and agencies in Massachusetts as well as officials from other states, according to the letter. The open letter was released ahead of Tuesday’s vote on the ballot measure.
The measure appears on Tuesday’s ballot in Massachusetts. If approved by voters, it would roll back the state’s marijuana legalization law, which the No On 8 campaign and its law enforcement supporters oppose.
NABLEO’s endorsement and the open letter from the more than 50 current and former law enforcement officials represent the latest statements from members of the law enforcement community urging voters to reject the initiative. Both the endorsement and the letter were announced ahead of Tuesday’s election.
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