A controversial ballot question that could make Massachusetts the first state to recriminalize a legal adult-use cannabis market cleared its final hurdle Tuesday and will appear before voters in November.
That’s after the State Ballot Law Commission rejected a last-ditch challenge that included allegations of fraud and deceptive tactics, according to the CommonWealth Beacon.
The repeal will appear on November midterm election ballots as Question 8, according to elections officials.
Will Massachusetts vote to repeal adult-use marijuana sales?
According to Kevin Gilnack, who filed the appeal, anti-legalization campaign workers gathered signatures through “fraudulent means.” Further, formatting problems should invalidate enough signatures to disqualify the measure, according to the Beacon.
His central claim focused on 231 signatures that appeared on petition sheets containing “stray marks,” well above the 123 the commission would have needed to toss to sink the question, the Beacon reported.
The commission disagreed.
It ruled the sheets contained “errant pen marks that have no material effect on the remainder of the content of the petition” and found Gilnack “failed to meet the burden of proof to disqualify enough signatures.”
It’s the second time the In January, the State Ballot Law Commission rejected a similar challenge that centered on whether campaigners misled voters about the petition’s purpose, the Beacon reported.
The measure, dubbed the Act to Restore Sensible Marijuana Policy, will appear as Question 8 on the Nov. 3 ballot.
When would adult-use cannabis sales in Massachusetts end?
If passed, starting in 2028, recreational cannabis sales would become illegal in Massachusetts. That would unwind a decade-old industry that’s generated significant tax revenue for the state and municipalities.
Medical cannabis sales and adult-use possession would remain legal.
The repeal push is bankrolled by SAM Action Inc., the political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national anti-marijuana organization that’s also opposing federal marijuana rescheduling.
As a 501 (c)(4), the group isn’t required to disclose its donors. The group provided all of the $1.55 million the campaign raised through the end of 2025.
“With surging emergency room visits, youth addiction and more dangerous roads, it is time for Massachusetts to end this disastrous experiment,” SAM Action President and cCEO Kevin Sabet said in a statement, according to the Beacon.
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Cannabis industry advocates don’t have the deep pockets SAM does. A Stop the Repeal campaign reported just $10,500 on hand in its most recent filings.
A Massachusetts repeal would mark the first time a state reversed a functioning adult-use market after regulated sales took hold.
South Dakota voters passed recreational cannabis in 2020 before a state Supreme Court ruling invalidated the vote, but sales never began.
