And then there was one.
Recreational marijuana legalization ballot measure in Massachusetts, that is. On Tuesday, after handing in all the signatures it had collected, Bay State Repeal acknowledged that its initiative wouldn’t qualify for the 2016 ballot.
“We didn’t make it,” the group’s spokesman, Steve Epstein, told Boston.com.
That leaves only the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol standing in Massachusetts, which submitted more than 103,000 signatures on Tuesday for its initiative, meaning if it qualifies, it will be the sole chance advocates have to legalize rec this year in the state.
Though Bay State Repeal has not yet been formally disqualified by the state, Epstein said he would “use every skill in my power” to defeat CRMLA’s initiative, and blasted it as a “bad law” that would enact “crony capitalism.” But other Massachusetts advocates, such as the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, are already getting behind CRMLA, which is backed by the Marijuana Policy Project.
