A November ballot question backed by Smart Approaches to Marijuana would shut down the state’s $1.6 billion adult-use market, end home grow and put an estimated 27,000 jobs at risk. Massachusetts would be the first state in the country to undo a regulated cannabis program through a voter referendum.
Massachusetts could become the first state in the country to roll back recreational cannabis at the ballot box.
A November 2026 ballot question titled “An Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy” would shut down the state’s $1.6 billion adult-use market, end the right to grow up to six plants at home and force more than 25,000 people out of the cannabis workforce. Medical cannabis would survive. The state’s Cannabis Control Commission would remain in place to regulate it.
The repeal campaign is led by Caroline Cunningham, a member of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee, with spokesperson Wendy Wakeman, also a MassGOP figure. Both have said the campaign is independent of the party. The funding tells a different story.
Smart Approaches to Marijuana, the prohibitionist organization led by Kevin Sabet, contributed more than $1.5 million to the campaign through its political arm SAM Action Inc., according to Cannabis Business Times. SAM is the same organization that has fought legalization in nearly every state where it has come up for a vote.
What’s at stake in November
Massachusetts’ regulated adult-use cannabis market, by the numbers.
27,000
Jobs in the state’s cannabis industry
$1.6B
Annual size of the adult-use market
$1.44B
Tax revenue collected since 2018
53.7%
Voter approval that legalized cannabis in 2016
Sources: Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, Vangst, Cannabis Business Times.
Signature gathering under fire
The repeal campaign has faced credibility issues from the start. After signatures were submitted in late 2025, multiple Massachusetts residents reported being told they were signing petitions for affordable housing, public schools …
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Author: Javier Hasse / High Times
