Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition Executive Director Ryan Dominguez speaks with Garth Goldstein about why he should vote “no” on Question 8 outside the SEED dispensary in Somerville. Jesse Costa/WBUR photo
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A Virginia-based anti-marijuana nonprofit has Massachusetts’s cannabis dispensaries in its crosshairs and advocates of legal weed in the Bay State are girding for battle over Question 8 on the ballot on Nov. 3.
A “yes”-vote majority on the question would repeal legalization of recreational marijuana in the state.
If approved, the petition being advanced by the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts and funded to the tune of $3.5 million, with most of the money coming from Smart Approaches to Marijuana Inc. of Virginia, would allow adults to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and impose civil penalties of $100 for possession of more than an ounce.
The petition additionally would allow recreational-use dispensaries to apply to become medical marijuana dispensaries on an expedited basis.
Dispensary owners reached by The Reporter said that the petition, if passed, would set the state back economically and socially.
“They want to bring their prohibitionist out-of-state message and dark money to Massachusetts to try to effect public policy,” said former Boston City Councillor Tito Jackson, who owns the Apex Noir dispensary in downtown Boston. “This would drastically harm our state economy.”
According to the state’s Cannabis Control Commission, the marijuana industry in Massachusetts employs more than 15,000 people, has rung up $10 billion in sales over the last eight years and generates more than $300 million in annual revenue for the state.
The Massachusetts cannabis industry has also prioritized permits for businesses owned by people from communities harmed by over-policing.
Mark Bouquet, who co-owns dispensaries in Brockton and Dorchester, was arrested as a 20-year-old during a police stop. Despite the fact that he was in possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, he was charged with possession with intent to distribute.
“I come from a community that was targeted,” said Bouquet, who just opened Legal Greens on Washington Street in Codman Square. “I know how easy it was for people to be targeted.”
Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to establish an equity program that prioritized people from communities that were impacted by the war on drugs. Of the 782 cannabis businesses operating in Massachusetts — dispensaries, growing operations, delivery services — 100 are owned by people who benefited from the state’s equity program.
Shutting down dispensaries would not only affect owners like Bouquet, but also their employees. Bouquet said he has 40 people working in Brockton, and 17 in his newly opened location in Codman Square, many of whom were also targeted by police for marijuana possession.
Approval of the ballot question “would affect a whole community of people,” he said.
With their petition asking for a “yes” vote facing stiff headwinds with Massachusetts voters, representatives from the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts and Smart Approaches to Marijuana, Inc. did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
A University of New Hampshire poll last month found that 71 percent of voters here are opposed to approving the question.
On its website, Smart Approaches to Marijuana claims that 19 million people nationwide are addicted to marijuana and lists stories of people killed by using the drug — a man who died snorting heroin after he began using marijuana, another who died after he passed out under the influence of marijuana while driving, a young woman killed by a driver high on weed who ploughed through a red light at 82 miles an hour.
In the eight years since legal dispensaries first opened in Massachusetts, adult use has risen from 12.9 percent to 18.2 percent, according to Centers for Disease Control data. At the same time, use among high school students has declined from 26 percent to 12 percent in the same time period.
Armani White, who last year opened Firehouse Cannabis in Hyde Park, said that banning adult-use dispensaries would cause more harm, pushing people into the black market.
“The recreational cannabis industry in Massachusetts has helped people access affordable, safe products,” he said.
As for the ballot question’s provision for recreational dispensaries converting to medical marijuana facilities, White says that approach wouldn’t work, noting that “medical marijuana has a high barrier to entry and there’s been no commitment to equity in the medical marijuana regulations.”
The Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation, which has raised $2.18 million since December last year, is funded mostly by Massachusetts cannabis businesses.
White says he and other business owners are helping out with the campaign, encouraging customers to sign pledges to vote “no” on Question 8.
“We have lawn signs at our shops,” he said. “It’s really a hands-on effort.”
Copyright © 2026 Boston Neighborhood News, Inc. This content may not be re-published or re-used without written permission.
