Politics
Massachusetts Campaign To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization Law Is ‘On Track’ To Make 2026 Ballot, Spokesperson Says
A Massachusetts campaign says it is “on track” to collect enough signatures to put an initiative on the 2026 ballot that would roll back key aspects of adult-use marijuana legalization in the state. Meanwhile, some in the cannabis reform community are raising concerns about alleged instances where voters are being approached by signature gatherers with misleading information before signing petitions.
About a month after Massachusetts Attorney General Joy Campbell (D) cleared the campaign for signature gathering by certifying the recriminalization proposal, spokesperson Wendy Wakeman said the process is “going well” as they work to collect 100,000 signatures by a December 3 deadline.
“It’s on track,” Wakeman told Cannabis Business Times, while acknowledging that the “whole process—the initiative petition process—isn’t easy.”
In order to potentially qualify for the ballot, the campaign will need to submit an initial batch of 74,574 valid signatures. Internally, prohibitionist advocates have determined that they need to collect around 100,000 “because there are two different vetting processes that the signature sheets, the petitions, will go through,” and so it’s important to have that cushion for those that are potentially invalidated.
“The process at every step is political,” Wakeman said, arguing that while the voters decisively approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, there’s a sizable population of health professionals, parents and educators who are angling for a reversal of the law.
More people are feeling the “impact that the growth of marijuana use has had on the quality of life, the increase in DUI stops, the increase in child poisonings and in pet poisonings,” she said. “There’s a group that coalesces around the idea that we moved too far too fast with marijuana legalization, and that it’s not working well for Massachusetts.”
When the attorney general’s office completed its review of about 50 proposed 2026 ballot measures, it certified two versions the recriminalization campaign submitted.
Both would eliminate the state’s commercial adult-use market while maintaining patient access under the medical cannabis program and continuing to allow lawful possession of up to an ounce of recreational marijuana. “Version A” contains language that would also cap THC content for medical marijuana, while “Version B” omits that policy.
Wakeman says the campaign is pursuing the latter initiative without the cap. “We’re focusing on a petition that rolls back recreational pot stores and the legality of home-grown recreational marijuana,” she said.
Under initiative—titled “An Act to Restore A Sensible Marijuana Policy”—adults 21 and older could still possess up to an ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be a marijuana concentrate product.
Possession of more than one ounce but less than two ounces would be effectively decriminalized, with violators subject to a $100 fine. Adults could also continue to gift cannabis between each other without remuneration.
But provisions in the state’s voter-approved marijuana law that allow for commercial cannabis retailers and access to regulated products by adults would be repealed under the proposal.
Adults’ right to cultivate cannabis at home would also be repealed.
Meg Sanders, CEO of the Massachusetts-based Canna Provisions, told Cannabis Business Times that the question of legalization in the commonwealth has already been answered.
“I believe the voters showed up in 2016 and stated exactly what they wanted to see, which was a regulated cannabis market for adults,” she said. “I really hope we don’t have to ask and answer it again.”
“I think prohibition in any form is a real threat, and I think we have to keep our eye on the ball and not assume and not just go about our merry way. We’ll talk about it with our customers. We’ll make sure that they’re very aware of it. Please ask them to tell their friends. I just feel like we don’t know what the money behind this initiative is. We don’t understand exactly what’s backing this, but in my opinion, any threat to freedom is a threat that we need to look at.”
On Tuesday, the editor in chief of the Massachusetts-based marijuana news site Talking Joints Memo shared that a friend of his was recently approached by a person allegedly collecting signatures for the campaign who he said significantly mischaracterized the proposal by suggesting it would “stop criminalizing weed once and for all.”
Others in the industry replied to the LinkedIn post with similar experiences. But for what it’s worth, one person also flagged that they’ve heard of recent instances where petitioners have been collecting signatures for a ballot measure that isn’t actually certified.
Marijuana Moment reached out to the campaign for comment, but a representative was not immediately available.
Meanwhile, the head of Massachusetts’s marijuana regulatory agency recently suggested that the measure to effectively recriminalize recreational cannabis sales could imperil tax revenue that’s being used to support substance misuse treatment efforts and other public programs.
If enough of the initial signature submissions are validated, the proposal will then go before the legislature, with lawmakers having until May 6 to enact it into law or propose a substitute. If they do not, organizers will then need to collect 12,429 additional valid voter signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
Whether the cannabis measures make the cut is yet to be seen. Voters approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, with sales launching two years later. And the past decade has seen the market evolve and expand. As of August, Massachusetts officials reported more than $8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales.
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Regulators are also working to finalize rules to allow for a new cannabis consumption lounge license type, which they hope to complete by October.
Separately, in May CCC launched an online platform aimed at helping people find jobs, workplace training and networking opportunities in the state’s legal cannabis industry.
The legislature’s Joint Committee on Cannabis Policy in August approved bills to provide employment protections for marijuana consumers and expand the state’s medical cannabis program, in part by adding post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and opioid use disorder to the list of qualifying conditions.
State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.
Also in Massachusetts, legislators who were working on a state budget butted heads with CCC officials, who’ve said they can’t make critical technology improvements without more money from the legislature.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts lawmakers recently approved a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics. And two committees have separately held hearings to discuss additional psilocybin-related measures.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
