I thought I should edit this one although it has been two years ago or more. I posted this question because I was so distressed by the fact when someone called me ignorant because I did not know ”it was legalized” that was at the time when ‘the cable media’ used to broadcast discussions of ‘representatives’ debating the necessity to legalize the famous cannabis that the federal legislators in 1970s classified as class I controlled substance: a class of controlled substances that were considered street illicit ones with no clinical benefit what so ever and have detrimental harmful effect on users and society. The person who called me so did so almost ten years ago. Very recently ( 2017) as a G.J I learned that it indeed was legalized for clinical purposes and that a person can buy it without a prescription because the law makers and the ones who convinced them to adopt the bill established correlations ( no extensive evidence-based research) between marijuana use and symptoms’ relief or cure?! of glaucoma and also that it raises heart beat and possibly BP. I am not sure in what way the cannabis is sold without prescription whether they come in the form of pills or injection or patches which is the only possible the marijuana claimed clinical benefits could be actually beneficial the same way opioids are used for short term post operative pain relief or in some cases for chronological cancerous or neuropathic pain ( all type of terminal pain) relief and of course in controlled clinically beneficial doses to help the patient to actually get relief and comfort and not expedite their cardiac, respiratory arrests or expedite organ failure. The kind of complaint I had raised to that person was actually about harassers smoking marijuana a few steps of my door and for which I got insulted by that person. Let’s toss the petty bigotries aside and try and understand some legal matters correctly and in what way they are helpful or harmful to society. First, The controlled substance act is a federal law for Massachusetts to overrule it it has to actually change a federal law because no state law should contradict federal laws. It is not similar to allowing same sex marriage because there was no federal law that directly incriminates it while there is a law that actually controls the drugs and classifies their degree of control in accordance with the extent to which they are clinically helpful or harmful to patients and whether they can access them only with prescription or over the counter and the amounts and refill times unless it is a terminal disorder or a chronic condition for which pain their is no other relief. The controlled substances are also controlled in such way according to their level of addiction and dependency on the taker from the highest level of addiction and dependency to negligible or no such effects at all. The latter are the type of pain relief you buy from the pharmacy without prescription. An example of these are tylenols, ibuprofen, aspirin…etc. Another question that arises here is in what way is the use and effect of aspirin or tylenol is comparable to the use of marijuana? If the need to legalize it was based on its likely potential effect on glaucoma and correcting pathologic bradycardia or some GI problems ( constipation) then have the other conventional prescription failed? In what way is it beneficial to either glaucoma and blood pressure or any type of arrhythmia in its smoked forms. In all the cases I have seen in court to which any one can access similar to all public records ( as I have been told in court) the issues were about cases were people’s ‘prescription’ for marijuana or marijuana were stolen. I hope you are starting to see the horror of the depicted picture here and therefore I understood it was not a marijuana that came as tablet, patches, elixirs or any other forms in regulated pharmaceutical dosages the patient uses as needed for ‘prevention from glaucoma?!’ or regulate blood pressure or heart beat but rather raw weed to be leisurely smoked in streets and in company with others