Massachusetts to Vote on Repealing Recreational Marijuana

Massachusetts citizens will vote next week on a ballot measure that would make recreational marijuana illegal — again.

Question 8, “An Act to Restore Sensible Marijuana Policy,” would:

• Repeal state laws legalizing the use, possession, production and taxation of recreational marijuana.
• Adjust penalties for those found with small amounts of recreational marijuana.
• Establish a Cannabis Control Commission to oversee the production and sale of medical marijuana, which would remain legal.

If citizens vote “yes” on Question 8, Massachusetts would become the first state to repeal a statute legalizing weed.

The Bay State narrowly voted to make recreational marijuana legal in 2016, four years after legalizing medical marijuana in 2012.

The Coalition for Healthy Massachusetts has spent more than $3.7 million to support Question 8. The vast majority comes from Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), an organization which raises awareness about the harm of ingesting cannabis.

The Coalition for Healthy Massachusetts cites evidence showing today’s powerful, addictive cannabis products wreak havoc on users’ brains and bodies.

Decades of research links marijuana consumption to the development of psychosis and serious mental illness. As the Daily Citizen previously reported:

• People who smoke high-THC marijuana daily are five times as likely to develop a psychotic disorder than those who don’t smoke (The Lancet; 2019).
• As many as one in 200 individuals who ingest marijuana experience cannabis-associated psychotic symptoms (Nature; 2024).
• A cannabis-induced psychotic episode has a 47% chance of triggering schizophrenia or bipolar disorder — a higher likelihood than psychotic episodes induced by alcohol, opioids, sedatives, cocaine and amphetamines (American Journal of Psychiatry; 2017).

Adolescents face an even higher probability of developing serious mental health problems after ingesting marijuana. A recent study of nearly 500,000 teens between 13 and 17 years old found those who ingested marijuana, no matter how much, were more than twice as likely as their peers to develop bipolar or psychotic disorder by the time they turned 26.

A comprehensive UCLA analysis of marijuana research published between January 2010 and September 2025 connected daily, high-potency marijuana use to higher rates of heart disease and greater risk of stroke.

Prolonged marijuana use can also lead to cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), a condition causing debilitating nausea and vomiting that can be fatal if left untreated.

Massachusetts citizens experienced specific harm after the state legalized recreational marijuana, the Coalition for Healthy Massachusetts claims, citing a study out of Mass General Brigham showing rates of cannabis use increased almost fourfold after 2016 among minors 12 to 17 years old.

The study further connected legalization to an increase in cannabis-related disorders, particularly among teens with preexisting psychological conditions.

These findings are incredibly problematic given Massachusetts’s 2021 Youth Health Survey found stores were more than twice as likely to sell marijuana products to underage users (4.3%) as they were to sell vape products to tobacco users (2%).

Still, several coalitions — and most of the Massachusetts legislature — oppose Question 8. The largest coalition, Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation, raised almost all of $2.8 million spent to oppose the Act.

Unsurprisingly, five of the six largest donors to the Question 8 opposition sell marijuana products. The sixth is a private investment manager offering “cannabis focused private credit.”

One of the opposition’s biggest talking points is the tax revenue marijuana generates for state and local governments. Question 8, they argue, would harm Massachusetts by eliminating this revenue stream. argues

But marijuana does not generate meaningful tax revenue — for Massachusetts or anywhere else. Though Massachusetts increased its excise tax on recreational marijuana products from 3.75% to 10.75% in 2017, marijuana excise taxes made up just 0.42% of the state’s total tax revenue in the first quarter of 2024.

This was not a disappointing aberration. In the first quarter of 2024, marijuana excise taxes made up, at most, 1.5% of a state’s total tax revenue.

A local newspaper opposed Question 8 because “those who don’t care for that industry can simply avoid any such businesses.” Further, the editorial board argued, marijuana “comes with fewer acute risks than most other vices available for legal consumption.”

But supporters of Question 8 might note marijuana consumption negatively affects the whole state, even when unsupportive citizens abstain.

Consider marijuana’s effect on car accidents. A recent regional study found a whopping 42% of drivers in fatal car crashes tested positive for THC — the mind-altering chemical in marijuana.

Most states consider drivers impaired with between two and five nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) of THC in their blood. The average THC levels in the blood of those involved in fatal car accidents was 30.7 ng/mL.

Dangerous roads affect all drivers, not just those who ingest cannabis.

The newspaper’s latter assertion is simply untrue. Though the marijuana industry frequently pushes lies about the safety or relative “health benefits” of cannabis, mountains of evidence point to the drug’s dangers.

Regarding medical marijuana, for instance, the aforementioned UCLA analysis found marijuana successfully treats only three medical conditions:

• Appetite loss caused by HIV/AIDS.
• Nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy.
• Some pediatric seizure disorders.

Beyond these illnesses, researchers concluded evidence “does not support the use of cannabis or cannabinoids for most conditions for which it is promoted, such as acute pain or insomnia.”

Question 8 is an indirect ballot measure, which means Massachusetts law makers reviewed the initiative before the state’s signature deadline in July.

After review, the legislature can choose to make an indirect ballot measure law or allow it to proceed to the ballot for a vote.

Massachusetts’ Secretary of State certified “The Act to Restore Sensible Marijuana Policy” for the ballot on July 17 with more than 90,800 valid signatures in support.

Massachusetts citizens will vote on Question 8, “The Act to Restore Sensible Marijuana Policy,” on November 3.

Idaho citizens will also vote on marijuana policy next week. To read the Daily Citizen’s breakdown of that ballot measure, click here.

Readers in other states, please educate yourself and your family about the harmful effects of marijuana and chemically-altered hemp products. Click on the articles below to learn more.

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THC-Laced Snacks Marketed to Kids, Hemp to Blame

Oregon Lawmakers Vote to Recriminalize Hard Drugs