Vote No on Question 8. Keep Cannabis Legal in Massachusetts.

Officially titled "An Act to Restore a Sensible Marijuana Policy," Question 8 would eliminate licensed adult-use cannabis sales & home cultivation across Massachusetts if voters approve it on November 3, 2026. Don't let the friendly-sounding title fool you. This measure undoes the legal, regulated market Massachusetts voters built & approved back in 2016.

A "yes" vote on Question 8 would:

• End all licensed adult-use cannabis sales, closing every dispensary, cultivator & manufacturer in the state
• Eliminate home cultivation rights, banning the six plants adults 21+ can legally grow today
• Preserve the medical cannabis program, though with new potency restrictions on products
• Actually cut the legal possession limit in half, from two ounces down to one, with no legal way left to buy or grow it.
• Take effect January 1, 2028, giving the regulated industry & the families it supports a hard deadline to shut down

Massachusetts voters already had this conversation. Back in 2016, 54% of the Commonwealth voted to legalize cannabis for adults. Since then, the market has generated more than $9 billion in total sales & currently brings in roughly $272 million a year in tax revenue, money that funds schools, roads & local budgets across the state.

It would also cost real people their livelihoods. Massachusetts is home to more than 700 licensed cannabis businesses & an estimated 27,000 jobs tied to the industry. Growers, budtenders, lab technicians, delivery drivers & small operators like us who show up every day to serve our neighbors honestly. Consumers would be pushed toward an unregulated market with no lab testing, no age verification & no accountability for what's in the product, & the Cannabis Social Equity Trust Fund, which has already put $28.9 million toward folks harmed by decades of prohibition, would lose its funding overnight.

This isn't a groundswell of local concern. It's a well-funded campaign. The push behind Question 8 has been backed almost entirely by a single out-of-state group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which contributed $1.55 million to the effort. A survey of people who signed the original petition found that more than half said they were misled about what they were actually signing, with many believing they were supporting affordable housing or fentanyl prevention, not a cannabis repeal.

Bud's Goods & Provisions was built on being a trustworthy, honest part of this community, & that means showing up when something threatens the neighbors, jobs & regulated market we've spent a decade building. We're proud to be part of the Stop the Repeal campaign organized by the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition (MCC), & we've put our money behind that commitment with a donation to the campaign. We're voting no on Question 8 & asking our customers & neighbors to do the same.

Mark your calendar now. These deadlines come up faster than you'd think.