Smart Approaches to Marijuana Has Now Put Nearly $3.2 Million Behind Massachusetts Campaign to Repeal Marijuana Legalization

Smart Approaches to Marijuana’s political advocacy arm has now contributed nearly $3.2 million to the campaign seeking to dismantle Massachusetts’ recreational marijuana market, according to newly filed campaign finance disclosures.

SAM Action Inc. contributed $1.55 million during the fourth quarter of 2025 and another $1.63 million so far in 2026 to the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, bringing its cumulative contributions to approximately $3.18 million. Three individual donors have contributed a combined $600 to the campaign.

The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance previously reported that the coalition raised $1.55 million in 2025, making it one of the state’s best-funded ballot question committees even before this year’s additional contributions.

Much of the money has gone toward qualifying the initiative for the ballot. The campaign has spent more than $1.8 million on its two rounds of signature gathering, including approximately $1.4 million during the initial petition drive and another $413,000 during the final qualification stage. Missouri-based Groundgame Political Solutions managed the signature drives.

Despite those expenditures, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts reported having approximately $980,000 remaining as of September 4, leaving the group with substantial resources for advertising and voter outreach ahead of the November 3 election.

The opposing Committee to Protect Cannabis Regulation has also dramatically increased its fundraising. The committee, which operates the Stop the Repeal campaign, raised approximately $1.5 million this year, according to campaign finance records reviewed by The Boston Globe. That includes a $100,000 contribution from the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts voters will decide the issue as Question 8. The proposal would repeal the state’s system of licensed and taxed recreational marijuana sales while leaving the medical marijuana program intact. It would also end protections for nonmedical home cultivation and reduce the amount adults can possess without a civil penalty.

Voters originally approved recreational marijuana legalization in 2016, with legal adult-use sales beginning in 2018. If Question 8 passes, Massachusetts would become the first state to repeal a voter-approved recreational marijuana market through a subsequent statewide ballot initiative.