A proposal repealing key elements of Massachusetts’ voter-approved marijuana legalization law will appear on the November ballot, state officials confirmed today.
The measure (An Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy a/k/a Question 8) seeks to repeal decade-old laws permitting adults to home-cultivate marijuana and regulating the adult-use retail cannabis market, among other changes. Financing for the campaign has come entirely from a single out-of-state special interest group.
On several occasions, opponents of the measure questioned the validity of the signatures and the tactics engaged by petitioners to gather them. State officials ultimately rejected those challenges. A separate lawsuit alleging that the measure addresses too many unrelated subjects to be considered in a single ballot question was also rejected by the state Supreme Court.
November’s vote will mark the first time that voters in any state have weighed in on whether to repeal marijuana legalization. According to statewide polling, 63 percent of Massachusetts’ voters, including strong majorities of Democrats (74 percent) and Independents (69 percent), oppose the ballot question. Just 20 percent of respondents expressed support for the measure.
“There’s no ‘buyer’s remorse’ among Massachusetts’ voters when it comes to legalizing cannabis and this fact will become even clearer come November,” NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said. “That’s because these policies are largely working as intended and because Massachusetts voters prefer legalization and regulation over the failed policy of marijuana prohibition.”
In Idaho, state officials announced last week that a citizens’ initiative legalizing medical cannabis access failed to collect the necessary number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. Voters in that state will decide on a separate ballot question in November that, if approved, will prohibit the public from weighing in on “any future voter-initiated ballot questions legalizing marijuana.”
The full text of the repeal initiative is available online. NORML has several resources and fact sheets opposing the initiative campaign available in Election Central.