Massachusetts voters will decide nine statewide ballot questions in November. Among them, Question 8 stands out as the first in recent memory to undo a recently passed ballot question. The initiative would repeal the voter-approved 2016 measure that legalized recreational marijuana in the commonwealth.
Passage would dismantle a decade’s worth of cannabis industry-building that this year reached $10 billion in gross sales, plus billions of dollars in tax revenue. The question has attracted more than $5 million in campaign contributions between both sides and fueled speculation over who is behind it.
At a legislative hearing on the issue earlier this year, lawmakers needled the question’s supporters over who is funding the repeal campaign. Campaign finance records show the main group backing the initiative is the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, which has so far raised more than $3 million in support of banning the legal sale of recreational marijuana.
Much of that money has been spent on collecting signatures during the early phases of the ballot initiative process, consulting fees and advertising. The coalition is almost entirely funded by the fundraising arm of a Virginia-based anti-drug advocacy group called Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM for short.
SAM has provided the overwhelming majority of cash being used to advocate for Question 8 over the last two years. The nonprofit describes itself as a “nonpartisan organization for health-first marijuana policy.”
Smart Approaches to Marijuana has a slight link to Massachusetts. The group was co-founded in 2013 by Boston-born former U.S. Representative Patrick Kennedy, who served the people of Rhode Island.
The repeal question will appear before voters alongside eight other statewide ballot questions in November, when Massachusetts residents will decide whether to keep or undo the 2016 law that legalized recreational marijuana in the commonwealth.
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