An association of Massachusetts marijuana businesses is urging voters to tell local officials about any cases of misleading signature gathering tactics and “fraudulent messaging” by a campaign seeking to put an initiative on the ballot next year that would roll back the state’s adult-use legalization law.
The prohibitionist campaign, called the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, said last week that it’s “confident” they turned in enough signatures to qualify for ballot placement. Supporters need 74,574 valid signatures to make the cut.
But the signature gathering hasn’t been without controversy, as there have been allegations piling up that petitioners working on behalf of the campaign have shared misleading information about what the measure would accomplish—with claims that paid petitioners have used fake cover letters for other ballot measures on issues like affordable housing and same-day voter registration. The state attorney general’s office has confirmed it’s received complaints to that end.
While signatures were submitted to local clerks by last week’s deadline, they must still be processed by those officials and then refiled with the state by December 3. And marijuana companies based in the state want voters who’ve experienced potential instances of misleading petitioning to alert their town clerks before the process is finalized and ask them not to certify their signatures.
“Clerks do this every season, they know what to look for when it comes to questionable signatures,” David O’Brien, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Cannabis Business Association (MCBA), said in a press release on Monday.
“If you’re a voter who signed this petition under the impression you were signing for something else, please do not hesitate to contact your local clerk and speak with them,” he said.
Under proposed initiative, adults 21 and older could still possess up to an ounce of cannabis, only five grams of which could be a marijuana concentrate product. Possession of more than one ounce but less than two ounces would be effectively decriminalized, with violators subject to a $100 fine. Adults could also continue to gift cannabis between each other without remuneration.
But provisions in the state’s voter-approved marijuana law that allow for commercial cannabis retailers and access to regulated products by adults would be repealed under the proposal. Adults’ right to cultivate cannabis at home would also be repealed. The medical cannabis program would remain intact, however.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s (D) office—which cleared the campaign for signature gathering in September–has stressed to voters the importance of reading their summary, which is required to go at the top of the signature form, before signing any petitions.
“The fact that the campaign refuses to disavow these actions shows that they know they do not have the support to move forward without lying to voters,” O’Brien said. “Clearly, they’re having trouble finding people who want to repeal our highly effective cannabis laws and kill our successful cannabis industry.”
Wendy Wakeman, a spokesperson for Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts behind the “Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy” initiative, told Marijuana Moment on Monday that her group “was able to collect the signatures needed to qualify for the ballot thanks to the generous support of funders and honest messaging by professional signature gathers.”
“Opponents tried to run a ‘do not sign’ campaign. They failed,” she said. “Now they are making false accusations in a desperate attempt to prevent the measure from being certified. We look forward to continue running a campaign based on facts that addresses the many concerns Massachusetts voters have on the harms that recreational marijuana stores have had on our communities.”
Last week, Wakeman told The Boston Globe that the “committee 100 percent does not support folks misrepresenting or lying about the petition.” But she added that, “if this is happening,” then those who signed the petition based on misinformation without reading it only have themselves to blame.
To that point, because misstating the content of a ballot measure is considered protected political speech, the attorney general’s office has taken the added step of putting out an advisory about the need to do independent research before voters attach their name to an initiative petition. The advisory didn’t specifically mention the cannabis proposal, however.
Meanwhile, the head of Massachusetts’s marijuana regulatory agency recently suggested that the measure to effectively recriminalize recreational cannabis sales could imperil tax revenue that’s being used to support substance misuse treatment efforts and other public programs.
If enough of the initial signature submissions are validated, the proposal will then go before the legislature, with lawmakers having until May 6 to enact it into law or propose a substitute. If they do not, organizers will then need to collect 12,429 additional valid voter signatures to put the measure on the ballot.
Whether the cannabis measures make the cut is yet to be seen. Voters approved legalization at the ballot in 2016, with sales launching two years later. And the past decade has seen the market evolve and expand. As of August, Massachusetts officials reported more than $8 billion in adult-use marijuana sales.
Last week, the Massachusetts Senate approved a bill that would double the legal marijuana possession limit for adults and revise the regulatory framework for the state’s adult-use cannabis market. Similar legislation also advanced through the House earlier this year.
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Separately, the state Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) recently launched an online platform aimed at helping people find jobs, workplace training and networking opportunities in the state’s legal cannabis industry.
State lawmakers have also been considering setting tighter restrictions on intoxicating hemp-derived products and a plan to allow individual entities to control a larger number of cannabis establishments.
Also in Massachusetts, legislators who were working on a state budget butted heads with CCC officials, who’ve said they can’t make critical technology improvements without more money from the legislature.
Massachusetts lawmakers additionally approved a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics. And two committees have separately held hearings to discuss additional psilocybin-related measures.
Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
The post Massachusetts Marijuana Industry Rallies To Stop Signature Certification For Measure To Roll Back Legalization Amid ‘Fraudulent’ Petitioning Accusations appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
