Massachusetts Could Become The First State To Repeal Legal Weed. The Community Is Fighting Back.

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.

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 or fentanyl prevention, only to learn later they had backed the cannabis repeal.

The pro-cannabis Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation commissioned a phone survey of more than 2,300 people who signed the petition. According to the Boston Globe, 1,163 of those respondents said they would never have signed if they had known the actual purpose. The State Ballot Law Commission rejected a formal challenge in January, citing what it called a lack of admissible evidence.

“I am here in opposition to a destructive ballot initiative that is driven by out-of-state alcohol and gambling billionaires, trying to protect their own pockets.”

Caroline Pineau, owner of Stem Haverhill, testifying before the Massachusetts Special Joint Committee on Initiative Petitions, March 23, 2026

The polling picture is mixed

Public polling so far favors the industry. A University of New Hampshire poll earlier this year found 63% of Massachusetts voters opposed the repeal. Cannabis operators warn that those numbers tighten significantly once anti-cannabis advertising hits the airwaves, and the SAM-backed campaign is expected to outspend the industry on negative messaging.

The industry response is anchored by the Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation, with Ryan Dominguez (executive director, Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition) and David O’Brien (executive director, Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association) among its leadership. The committee is asking operators across the state to contribute the equivalent of one day’s sales to fund the defense campaign.

The clock is almost out

The Massachusetts Legislature has until May 5 to enact the petition, which it almost certainly will not. After that, the campaign needs another 12,429 verified signatures by July 1 to officially make the November ballot. Both deadlines are widely expected to clear.

If voters approve the question in November, no state in the country will have ever undone a regulated cannabis program through a ballot referendum. Massachusetts would be the test case for what comes next.