After Massachusetts Loss, SAM Action Eyes Maine for Repeal Push

Massachusetts voters have turned down a proposal that would have dismantled the state's adult-use cannabis market, but the campaign's main financial backer is not backing off. SAM Action, which bankrolled the effort, says it will keep pursuing repeal in other places. It has already named its next target: Maine, where a similar petition remains approved for circulation. That means the group could soon try to collect the signatures needed to put a comparable question in front of Maine voters. The result in Massachusetts is a meaningful data point. A state that was among the early adopters of adult-use legalization was asked directly whether it wanted to roll that system back, and voters said no. For people who work in or shop at the regulated market there, the outcome means stores, cultivators and manufacturers can continue operating under the current framework. The pledge to move on to Maine shows that opponents of legalization see ballot petitions as a way to challenge existing programs rather than only trying to block new ones. Maine has had its own legal market for some time, so a repeal measure there would test whether voters feel the same way as their neighbors in Massachusetts. The announcement also comes alongside continued opposition from the affiliated organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana to federal rescheduling, which shows the broader group is fighting on more than one front, in states and in Washington. Supporters of legalization will likely treat the Massachusetts vote as evidence that repeal is a tough sell once a market is up and running. Whether Maine voters see it the same way, and whether the petition actually reaches the ballot, remains to be seen.