BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — Massachusetts made history tonight as the first state ever to put the question of ending commercial marijuana sales before its voters. Question 8 asked voters to end commercial recreational marijuana sales while keeping personal possession and medical marijuana legal.
“The fact Massachusetts residents had this opportunity to vote on repealing marijuana sales is historic. It was the shot heard around the world,” said Dr. Kevin Sabet, President and CEO of SAM Action. “Hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts voters took on the billion-dollar, modern-day Big Tobacco industry in the nation’s first statewide vote to end commercial marijuana sales. This vote was unthinkable just a few years ago.
“Though we came up short tonight, this is a pyrrhic victory for the industry and we are not backing down—Maine and other states will be next. The industry will again be forced to defend their supercharged potency products, higher rates of psychosis, higher rates of ER visits, and higher rates of addiction.
“We are proud that during the course of this campaign millions of people were educated about the harms of the industry and its drugs. And we are proud that hundreds of thousands of people today said they have had enough. That number will only grow. The pro-legalization movement lost at the ballot box again and again before it ever won, and this is only the beginning. The industry should take note: Massachusetts voters have opened a conversation it cannot close.”
Legalization Lost Before It Won
Movements that change laws rarely win the first time, and the legalization movement is proof. Before it ever won, it lost again and again at the ballot box, including in states that are now among the largest commercial markets in the country:
- Nevada rejected marijuana ballot measures in 2002 (39%) and 2006 (44%) before passing legalization in 2016.
- California voted down legalization in 1972 (33%) and 2010 (47%) before passing it in 2016.
- Colorado rejected a 2006 measure (41%) before passing legalization in 2012.
- Oregon voted down legalization in 1986 (26%) and 2012 (47%) before passing it in 2014.
- Alaska rejected measures in 2000 (41%) and 2004 (44%) before passing legalization in 2014.
- Arizona voted down legalization in 2002 (43%) and 2016 (49%) before passing it in 2020.
- Ohio rejected legalization by nearly two to one in 2015 before passing it in 2023.
After losing in Nevada in 2002, the Marijuana Policy Project’s campaign director said, “It may take two years or four years or ten years, but we will win…we lost a battle, but we haven’t lost the war.”
The legalization movement treated every one of those losses as a starting line. Tonight, Massachusetts drew a new one, and Maine is next.
