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Maine Officials Approve 2026 Ballot Initiative To Largely Repeal Marijuana Legalization Law For Signature Collection

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7 months ago

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Maine officials have given permission to prohibition activists to begin gathering signatures for a proposal A ballot initiative that would roll back the state’s voter-approved marijuana legalization law. The measure, if passed, would also overhaul the regulatory structure of the medical cannabis program by establishing product testing requirements.

The proposal — called the “Cannabis Legalization Act and Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act” — is a revamped version of a marijuana initiative introduced in September, sponsored by a Republican state senator and a former top staffer for then-Gov. Paul LePage (R), staunch prohibitionist.

The latest proposal, a petition approved by the Secretary of State on Monday, would remove and amend multiple sections of the current state statute, which voters approved in 2016 to effectively repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana sales.

Adults over the age of 21 would remain legal to possess 2.5 ounces of cannabis under the proposal, but a section of the law allowing home cultivation would be repealed. The sale and home cultivation of medical marijuana would be legal.

Madison Carey, who was listed as a lead petitioner in the original version of the repeal initiative and remains involved in the current campaign, told Marihuana Momenti on Tuesday that “there needs to be regulation of marijuana,” arguing that her own experience recovering from opioid misuse disorder speaks to the inadequacy of the current law.

“My hope is to raise awareness of the reality of the potential dangers of not having regulation,” he said. “I think people are fed up with the constant use — the constant (retail businesses) coming up where people can legally buy marijuana.”

Of course, repealing the voter-approved law that established the adult-licensed sales system would eliminate the current regulatory infrastructure in place, which reform advocates say helps mitigate public health and safety risks associated with the illegal market.

Rep. David Boyer (R), who led the fight to get a cannabis legalization initiative on Maine’s ballot in 2016 when he was a staff member at the Marihuana Policy Project, said voters should refuse to sign petitions for the new initiative.

“Don’t stop Maine’s progress, don’t stop signing this unfair repeal initiative,” he told Marijuana Moment on Tuesday. “Repealing the legalization of cannabis would shut down an industry larger than lobsters, potatoes and blueberries combined, costing our state jobs, revenue and economic growth.”

According to the new measure, the director of the Office of Cannabis Policy will “advance policies that promote the health and welfare of the people of the state and protect their health and safety, emphasizing the health and welfare of minors as a priority consideration in the performance of all duties.”

They should also “ensure that eligible patients maintain access to high-quality, effective, and affordable medical cannabis under this Act.”

Under the proposal, the Department of Administrative and Financial Services would create a testing program for cannabis products that would require dispensaries and dispensaries to send those products to a licensed facility for safety evaluation before dispensing them to qualified patients.

The testing facility “should ensure that cannabis or cannabis products do not exceed acceptable levels of contamination for any contaminants that are harmful to health and require testing and ensure proper labeling.”

“The department shall adopt rules establishing a testing program under this section, rules identifying the types of pollutants harmful to health, which must be tested for cannabis and cannabis products under this chapter, and rules regarding the maximum level of contamination for each pollutant,” the vote said. the initiative the text says

Additionally, regulators should administer a system to track cannabis plants from seed to the point of retail sale or disposal. That system “should be able to track cannabis plants in groups during the cultivation phase and when passing from the cultivation phase to another registrar”.

Entrepreneurs must submit at least 67,682 valid voter signatures by February 2, 2026 to be eligible for next year’s ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative would take effect on January 1, 2028.

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It’s Marijuana Moment tracking hundreds of cannabis, psychedelic and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters by pledging at least $25/month, you’ll get access to our interactive maps, charts, and audio calendars so you never miss a development.

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Maine lawmakers passed a bill in June legalize possession of an ounce of psilocybin Adults over 21 years of age.

After a different effort in the state last year legalize psilocybin and allow adults to access the psychedelic in state-licensed facilities. But lawmakers watered down that bill—instead, they changed it to create a committee to study further reforms—and in the end it was not approved.

Meanwhile, Maine legislators in February A top marijuana official voted to investigate possible conflicts of interest.

And last year, the law that allowed people came into force now apply for legal marijuana crime records to be sealed.

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Wyoming AG keeps cannabis on Schedule I, rejects federal reclassification

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2 hours ago

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July 10, 2026

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Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz announced on July 7 that he would keep all marijuana products in Schedule I of Wyoming’s Controlled Substances Act, refusing to align the state’s cannabis policy with the federal reorganization order issued earlier this year.

Kautz, who also serves as Wyoming’s drug and substance abuse commissioner, held a public hearing on June 18 after filing an objection to aligning the state’s cannabis schedule with a federal amendment on May 27. State law requires the commissioner to give interested parties an opportunity to be heard after that objection, but only nine people responded. Four email comments supported leaving cannabis as a Schedule I drug, four as Schedule III. It was approved for use and one person attended the hearing to request that cannabis remain in Schedule I.

His decision follows an April 2026 order signed by U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche that bans state-licensed medical cannabis, FDA-approved cannabis products, cannabis extracts and naturally derived delta-9 THC III.

Kautz’s office says: “After consideration of all stakeholder comments, the commissioner has determined that all marijuana products, including marijuana subject to the state’s medical marijuana license, will remain in Schedule I of the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act.”

His announcement adds, “The decision to reschedule medical marijuana and marijuana products is an important policy decision that is best left to the Wyoming Legislature and should not be made through administrative rule.”

Wyoming remains one of eight states without a medical cannabis program. A December 2020 poll by the University of Wyoming’s Wyoming Center for Polling and Analysis found that 85 percent of state residents support legalizing medical cannabis, despite a failed 2024 ballot initiative effort. Possession of three ounces or less carries up to 12 months in prison under current state law, and selling any amount is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Kautz says his office will “properly schedule products approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration once that agency has approved the product,” pointing to the Schedules II and III listings of Cesamet and Dronabinol as evidence that the state complies with federal cannabinoid drug law.










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Massachusetts Initiative To Roll Back Marijuana Legalization Officially Qualifies For November Ballot

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2 hours ago

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July 10, 2026

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Officials in Massachusetts have formally certified an An initiative to roll back that state’s marijuana legalization law will appear on the November ballot.

The Commonwealth Secretariat’s Division of Elections notified organizers on Thursday that they had delivered enough valid signatures in the second round of petitions to put the measure before the voters—but just barely.

Under state law, Massachusetts ballot campaigns must submit signatures in two rounds. After the first presentation, the legislature has the opportunity to propose ballot measures after the organizers have presented the initial round of requests. Legislators in May he refused to act on the anti-marijuana measurehowever, and therefore the organizers had to present 12,429 more certified signatures by July 1 for the November vote.

“I am pleased to inform you that this Office has accepted 12,551 certified signatures received on or before July 1, 2026,” Michelle K. Tassinar of the Division of Elections wrote in a letter to one of the initial signatories. “The remaining signatures were voided for not being certified, inconsistent with the interpretation of (state law) or exceeding the number allowed for each county.”

“Therefore, the petition for the initiative will be printed on the November 3, 2026 state election ballot as required by the Constitution,” he said.

Meanwhile, a coalition of Massachusetts marijuana entrepreneurs, health care professionals and other advocates has launched a campaign to defeat the measure, which if enacted, would repeal laws that allow for the regulated commercial sale of recreational cannabis and home cultivation, while maintaining legal ownership and continuing the medical marijuana system.

In June, the campaign behind the legalization measure, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, released a signature-gatherer that it says showed “totally unacceptable” behavior in a recent video.

As Marihuana Moment reported, a The man was petitioning for the Massachusetts initiative, as well as a similar anti-cannabis proposal in Maine Recent social media posts suggested that voters who support legal access to marijuana should sign petitions to advance or support the reform.

The campaign later said it has “zero tolerance” for circulation tactics that would mislead petition signers.

“The identified canvasser was terminated immediately, in coordination with our vendor, upon learning of the alleged conduct,” the team said. “The behavior shown in the video would be completely unacceptable and does not reflect how this campaign works. We demand honesty, transparency and professionalism from everyone associated with our efforts.”

A video posted on Reddit shows the petitioner collecting signatures outside a Massachusetts retail store next to a sign that says “keep cannabis legal.”

When the petitioner confronted a marijuana reform supporter who recorded interactions with voters, it appears he was trying to convince them that getting the anti-cannabis measure on the ballot is important to defeating it later.

“This is what we’re fighting here. That’s why we’re voting no,” he said. “If we can bring this to a vote right here, we will vote no.”

The person who received the video noted that Massachusetts voters already approved the legalization of marijuana years ago, and the only way to immediately reverse it would be if the new ballot measure qualified for the November election. If the initiative doesn’t get enough signatures to go before the voters, state laws will remain the same.

“It’s my job,” insisted the applicant, however. “I know what I’m talking about.”

“It’s a group of wealthy out-of-state people who basically want to take marijuana back to the time when medical marijuana was the ticket,” he said. “We don’t want that to happen.”

The same man also appeared to be collecting extraordinary signatures A Maine measure that would repeal laws allowing the regulated sale of marijuana to adults and home cultivation rights for adults while maintaining legal ownership and adding new testing requirements for medical cannabis.

An employee of the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), of which the group is a member. SAM Action is largely funding anti-cannabis vote campaigns in both states, declined to comment on the petitioner’s conduct when reached by Marihuana Moment.

Campaigns have been accused of deceptive solicitation tactics before.

In Massachusetts, some voters reported the campaign used fake letters for other ballot measures on unrelated issues such as affordable housing and same-day voter registration. Supporters of legal cannabis filed a formal complaint about the tactics of the prohibitionist effortbut The State Voting Law Commission rejected the rebuttal.

The The measure faced a legal challenge from cannabis industry players he argued that it contains “irrelevant issues” and that the state attorney general’s official brief is “misleading and deficient.” State Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case challenging the anti-marijuana initiative but after all he decided against the challenge.

Read state officials the letter Regarding the certification of the anti-marijuana ballot initiative:

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Entourage Health faces severance claims from dismissed employees

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1 day ago

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July 9, 2026

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Entourage Health Corp., an Aylmer, Ont.-based cannabis grower, laid off 53 workers on June 8 without notice, offering only two weeks’ pay in lieu of notice rather than layoffs. More than 40 former employees have since filed complaints with Ontario’s Ministry of Labor, alleging the company violated the province’s Employment Standards Act, which entitles workers with more than five years of service at companies with payrolls of more than $2.5 million to receive 26 weeks of severance pay.

The company is owned by the pension fund of LiUNA, a major private sector union, which became Entourage’s largest lender and shareholder following a series of investments beginning in 2017. Entourage was taken private by an entity related to LiUNA in April 2025. After struggling with debt and unprofitability, the company laid off most of its leisure workers, and lost most of its bank employees to CCAA. protection at the end of June 2026. Its medical cannabis division continues to operate with 22 employees.

Court filings show Entourage owes LiUNA’s pension fund about $240 million. Efforts to sell the company generated little industry interest, leading to a bankruptcy filing. Former employees, including Benjamin Hessel and Gabriela Ayee, say they were blindsided by the sudden layoffs and worry they won’t get back the severance they were owed in the restructuring. A labor attorney noted that workers laid off in bankruptcy typically become unsecured creditors with limited recourse because secured lenders and government creditors are prioritized. The federal Wage Protection Program offers affected workers a one-time payment of up to $9,275. Neither Entourage nor the LiUNA Pension Fund responded to requests for comment.










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