Boston, MA: Justices on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected a lawsuit seeking to disqualify a marijuana legalization repeal initiative from November’s ballot.
In April, several social equity license holders filed a lawsuit to strike down the initiative (An Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy), which repeals key elements of the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. Plaintiffs argued that the measure should not have been certified because it addresses too many unrelated subjects to be considered in a single ballot question. They further argued that the Attorney General’s summary of the proposed measure failed to properly inform voters of its policy impacts.
Judges rejected those arguments, determining, “The Attorney General did not err in certifying the petition on either of the claimed grounds, and that her summary of the petition is fair.”
Statewide polling finds that 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.
The act 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 sole out-of-state special interest group.
Petitioners are still required to gather and submit additional signatures to officially qualify the measure for this November’s ballot.
NORML has several resources and fact sheets opposing the initiative campaign available in Election Central.