Cannabis News

Maine GOP Lawmaker Gears Up To Fight Anti-Marijuana Ballot Initiative

Published

7 hours ago

June 23, 2026

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“It’s never great politically if your opponent is on TV and you don’t have the money to respond.”

By: Emma Davis, Maine Morning Star

As voters left the Woodfords Club polling station in Portland on June 9, Alex Perez and Hairo Roque, both of Connecticut, asked them to sign one. Mainers petition to roll back recreational use of legalized cannabis a decade ago Similar scenes played out in Poland and other municipalities across the country on election day.

That effort to repeal recreational cannabis was muted after the campaign missed the winter deadline to submit signatures to get it on the November ballot. Now with about 40,000 of the 67,682 signatures needed (at least 10 percent of all votes cast in the last gubernatorial election), the campaign is eyeing the November 2027 ballot, said Caroline Alcock of Massachusetts, the group’s general counsel.

The campaign appears to be driven almost exclusively by out-of-state interests, while local cannabis supporters are organizing in opposition.

“To make a bad poker reference, they’re ‘committed to pot,'” Rep. David Boyer, who led legalization efforts in 2016, said of the campaign’s sole donor, Smart Approaches to Marijuana.

Colin Mack of Brunswick, who is listed as a proponent of the initiative on the secretary of state’s website, told the Maine Morning Star after the election that he thought the effort was over. However, he said that he did not participate, apart from being a local person, to send it to Augusta.

The proposed ballot referendum would ban the commercial cultivation, sale, purchase and manufacture of cannabis starting in 2028, while allowing personal use and possession of up to 2.5 ounces. It would also create new testing and tracking requirements for medical cannabis, which the Maine Legislature rejected earlier this year.

The petition is valid until the spring of 2027, 18 months later, and Alcock said the campaign plans to continue collecting signatures through the summer.

Influence from outside the state

SAM Action, the political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, which funds the campaign, he contributed $2 million in December. As a non-profit, the group is not required to disclose its financial sources.

SAM Action did not respond to multiple requests for comment. (The local Maine affiliate disbanded shortly after the 2016 referendum and is not involved in the current petition, as far as Scott Gagnon knows.)

SAM Action is also the only donor behind a similar anti-cannabis campaign in Massachusetts.

They have been in both Maine and Massachusetts the accusations of some signature collectors that the initiatives are misrepresentedthe leader Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) to encourage voters to read the entire petition before signing

Alcock said the campaign’s talking points to collectors are not misleading.

“We think it’s more of an adversarial strategy,” Alcock said of the allegations. “We’re not telling anyone to be misleading to voters or to use anything other than approved and vetted talking points about it.”

Although state law and the Maine Constitution require petition circulators to be Maine residents and registered voters, those residency requirements are largely unenforceable because of federal court rulings.

In 2020, Bellows was sued by a group that argued that the demands protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment violated “fundamental political speech”.

A district court granted the group — which included We the People PAC, Maine House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, a nonprofit and professional signature gatherer — a preliminary injunction, and in 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that the residency requirement was unconstitutional.

The state entered into a consent order with the group, which now follows all Maine citizen initiatives, to allow out-of-state circulators as long as they agree to submit to Maine’s jurisdiction for investigation or prosecution of any alleged violation of Maine law.

Building a defense

Since the re-emergence of an anti-cannabis petition on the ballot, Boyer has begun preparing for the defense.

As the petition began to spread this winter, Boyer opened a bank account and began having initial conversations with local and national groups to organize an opposition campaign.

“I’m going to dust myself off and register with the state and start collecting money,” Boyer said after seeing signature gatherers at the polls earlier this month.

His campaign is not about getting a competitive question on the ballot, but about raising money for “no vote” signs, mailings, TV ads and other ways to oppose the petition.

“We don’t have all the money they need,” Boyer said. “We don’t have to equate one and the other, but you know it’s never good politically if your opponent is on TV and you don’t have the money to respond.”

This story was first published by the Maine Morning Star.

user photo Brian Shamblen.

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Cannabis News

Judge declines to block New Jersey cannabis Labor Peace Agreement requirement in Curaleaf case

Published

7 hours ago

June 23, 2026

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U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp, for the District of New Jersey, ruled against Curaleaf Holdings Inc.’s request for emergency relief to block the requirement that New Jersey cannabis companies sign Labor Peace Agreements (LPAs) to keep the rule in place while the underlying case continues.

Under Bloomberg Law, Judge Shipp issued an unpublished opinion that Curaleaf failed to demonstrate the “irreparable harm” courts require before issuing a preliminary injunction. That rule requires a party to prove that it will later suffer irreparable injury if the judge waits for full proceedings. Judge Shipp concluded that Curaleaf did not meet that threshold.

The resolution is not a decision on the substance of the regulation. Judge Shipp expressed skepticism that the LPA’s requirement is supported under federal law, although he declined to block it. A court may find that a challenger has failed to meet the standard of emergency assistance without adopting the challenged rule.

The New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Enforcement Assistance and Market Modernization Act, known as CREAMMA, was signed into law by then-governor Phil Murphy in February 2021. It set up a 2020 legalization referendum and established the state’s adult cannabis market. Under CREAMMA, cannabis operators must sign an LPA and engage in collective bargaining with organized labour. These are two different obligations, both licensing requirements, not optional practices.

Curaleaf is opposing this dual mechanism. For New Jersey cannabis operators, the immediate consequence is that compliance remains mandatory while the case moves forward. The question of whether the LPA’s mandate is compatible with federal law remains unanswered.

Source: HeadyNJ

Cannabis News

Ayotte vetoes bill allowing New Hampshire medical cannabis dispensary greenhouses

Published

1 day ago

June 22, 2026

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New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte vetoed Senate Bill 468 on Friday, blocking a bipartisan measure that would have allowed the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries to increase their supply of cannabis and lower prices for patients.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Howard Pearl, R-Loudon, would limit each dispensary to a single greenhouse for growing its own cannabis. Ayott rejected it outright. In his veto statement, he writes: “I do not support the expansion of marijuana cultivation in our state. That is why I have vetoed SB 468.”

New Hampshire legalized medical marijuana in 2013 under then-governor Maggie Hassan. The state limits possession to two ounces and limits sales to a small network of nonprofit “alternative treatment centers.” The state’s seven dispensaries, located in Chichester, Conway, Dover, Keene, Lebanon, Merrimack and Plymouth, are operated by four such organizations. Patients need a medical marijuana card issued by their doctor to purchase at any of them.

New Hampshire remains the only New England state without legal recreational marijuana. Across the country, 24 states have legalized recreational use and 39 have legalized medical use. Ayotte has previously cited concerns about law enforcement’s inability to measure marijuana-impaired drivers using current technology, as well as the mental health and “quality of life” of young people to oppose broader legalization.

A two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would be needed to override the veto. Parliament plans to vote on a repeal this year.

Cannabis News

Bill To Put Marijuana On The Ballot In North Carolina Unlikely To Advance, GOP Senate Leader Says

Published

1 day ago

June 22, 2026

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“I’m not sure we’re at a place where we’re going to take legalization of marijuana.”

By Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline

A new bill proposed by North Carolina Senate Democrats would vote on constitutional amendments to legalize recreational and medical cannabis. But the chances of getting a vote in the Senate are not high, says the Republican leadership.

Senate Bill 1072 would put two separate amendments on the ballot in November, asking voters to legalize the possession of “limited quantities of cannabis” by patients who qualify for recreational and medical use, respectively.

“The people of North Carolina deserve a voice in determining the future of cannabis policy in our state,” said Sen. Kandie Smith (D-Edgecombe), one of the bill’s lead sponsors. “What it does is it gives North Carolinians a way to vote on whether or not limited personal property and medical use should be allowed under our state constitution.”

Senate President Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) had a candid response: “I’m not sure we’re in a place where we’re going to take legalization of marijuana,” he said Wednesday afternoon.

“I think there is some interest in looking at the state of hemp and the sale of hemp ingredients and some derivatives,” Berger said. “It’s really unclear whether we’re talking about an outright ban, or a regulatory scheme, or whether we’re talking about including these and not including those. It’s just a matter of discussion about what we get a consensus on.”

It would be a proposal that is currently moving through the Chamber prohibit anyone under the age of 21 from purchasing hemp-derived consumables.

Berger has supported medical marijuana in the past. In 2024, the Senate passed a bill that legalized medical marijuana while restricting hemp-based consumables. The bill, which passed 36-10, was championed by Senate Rules Chairman Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick), a cancer survivor who said cannabis helped him endure intensive chemotherapy for colon cancer.

However, the House refused to take up Rabon’s bill because of insufficient GOP support in that chamber. North Carolina remains one of 10 states that have yet to legalize medical marijuana.

With no medical cannabis program in North Carolina, many have turned to the state’s booming hemp industry to meet what they describe as medical needs, such as relieving pain, insomnia and anxiety among other conditions. However, many of these products will disappear after much stricter federal restrictions on hemp-based consumables take effect in November.

A February 2025 Meredith College Poll found that 71 percent of North Carolina residents supported passing a bill allowing medical marijuana, while 17 percent of respondents opposed it. Polls conducted by Elon University and the progressive think tank Carolina Forward have also shown majorities in favor of recreational marijuana in recent years.

Sen. Caleb Theodros (D-Mecklenburg), another key sponsor of S1072, said invoice State legislation would allow for the capture of public opinion on the use of cannabis.

“If the Legislature can’t fix this problem after years of debate, who should? I think the answer is simple, and it’s the people of North Carolina,” Theodros said. “Senate Bill 1072 gives voters an opportunity to have a direct voice on an issue that has been unresolved for too long.”

He said Berger has supported a push for cannabis legislation over the past year, an apparent reference to the Senate leader’s comments about medical cannabis. That makes him “cautiously optimistic” about the bill’s fate.

“We are aware of the political climate in this building. But again, we were not made to sit on our hands and say we are in the minority and therefore we can’t do anything,” Theodros said. “We’re trying to move with our colleagues here and join the rest of America and the rest of the planet to suggest that we need to have some kind of policy on this.”

This story was first published by NC Newsline.

user photo Philip Steffan.

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