The owners of the 19 recreational cannabis dispensaries in Cambridge and Somerville are warning that ballot Question 8, if passed in November, would end legal recreational sales in Massachusetts. Michael MacNeil, CEO of The Boston Garden, which operates recreational dispensaries in Cambridge, Somerville and Athol employing roughly 45 people, called the measure a major concern. “It’s hard enough today for cannabis retail businesses to stay profitable and repay their investors,” MacNeil said.
Richard Harding, owner of GreenSoul Dispensary in Central Square, said seeing Question 8 make the ballot was “a gut punch, another blow to folks like me.” He described passage as “a doomsday scenario.” The question, formally “An Act to Restore Sensible Marijuana Policy,” would prohibit recreational marijuana sales statewide beginning in 2028.
Limited possession would remain legal, and the state’s medical marijuana program would stay intact. Question 8 is backed by The Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, which argues legal recreational sales have made marijuana more accessible to minors, led to more people driving while high and negatively affected public health overall. The coalition did not respond to a request for comment.
MacNeil said the industry has helped budgets in cash-strapped Massachusetts cities and towns. Cambridge and Somerville together brought in roughly $765,000 in local cannabis tax revenue in fiscal 2025. Recreational marijuana generated about $340 million in state and local tax revenue statewide.
Losing recreational cannabis “would be a massive hit to Cambridge’s budget, which is already under tremendous pressure from police and fire departments and other city services,” MacNeil said. He said the provision allowing recreational dispensaries to apply for medical marijuana licenses would offer little refuge, since they would compete for a much smaller pool of registered patients, and he predicted most would not survive the transition.
Harding said opening GreenSoul cost millions of dollars and more than half a decade navigating the state’s legal cannabis bureaucracy. The dispensary opened in Central Square in March 2025 after winding through the pandemic and a maze of state and local approvals, real estate costs and bills for lawyers, architects and consultants.
Harding, an original advocate for the 2016 legalization campaign, later became a leading voice in Cambridge’s fight to give Economic Empowerment applicants a head start in the legal market. In 2019, he and other advocates pushed successfully for a controversial two-year exclusivity period reserving new recreational permits for those applicants.
Harding said the looming threat of Question 8 has already forced GreenSoul to put its next moves on hold. Plans for a Davis Square dispensary and a cultivation operation are stalled until after the November vote, while prospective investors have grown wary. “Some of the investors that we attract are like, ‘Whoa, whoa, slow up.
We don’t know what’s going on in Massachusetts. Let’s chill out,'” Harding said.
Skepticism Over The Endorsement A group representing Michigan marijuana businesses is endorsing the Republican candidate for governor due to his…
Judge Delays Decision After Petitioners Left Out No decision was made Wednesday on a challenge to a referendum on whether…
Floraworks Distinguishes Supplier Compliance From Ingredient Qualification Floraworks has spent the last several years evaluating cannabinol (CBN) as a mainstream…
A Street Fight That Reached the Fifth Circuit A 5th Circuit case that casts doubt on the constitutionality of many…
DEA Flags Felony Convictions at Mississippi Dispensary Nicole Huff, CEO of Wildflower Medical Dispensary in Aberdeen, Mississippi, received an email…
California Regulator Says DEA Has Not Answered Rescheduling Questions California's top marijuana regulator says the Drug Enforcement Administration has not…
