It was subjected to prohibitive taxation in 1937, against the advice of the American Medical Association, which protested losing a mainstream pharmaceutical used to treat many common disorders. There has never been a recorded death by over-dose of smoked marijuana, nor any research linking it with lung cancer unless tobacco was also used. No harm was found by studies of cannabis users in India, Jamaica, or among U.S. soldiers guarding the Panama Canal.
Every day patients suffer from the national ban on the medical use of cannabis.
The penalties are mandatory, so Massachusetts has the expense of trying and jailing people whose only crime is trying to stay healthy. At that point their medical conditions also become the expense of the taxpayers. Just ask a nauseous patient to ingest a pill. Dosage is not patient-controlled, so the powerful artificial substance may lead to psychotic episode. Cannabis is also far less costly than pharmaceutical alternatives.