A Maine campaign seeking to significantly roll back the state’s marijuana law failed to submit signatures by a deadline this week to make the November 2026 ballot, meaning the anti-cannabis activists will need to shift their focus to 2027 if they hope to put the issue before voters.
Amid criticism from reform advocates, industry stakeholders and certain lawmakers over allegedly misleading signature gathering tactics, Mainers for a Safe and Healthy Future was evidently unable to make the cut by the February 2 turn-in deadline.
“The cannabis petitions were not returned yesterday,” Deputy Secretary of State for Communications Jana Spaulding told Cannabis Business Times on Tuesday. In Maine, that doesn’t mean the campaign needs to start from scratch, however, as they can still pursue putting the proposal on next year’s ballot.
A Maine Republican lawmaker and marijuana industry advocates last month sounded the alarm over claims that the prohibitionist campaign was using misleading petition tactics to get voters to sign the petition.
A video shared by Rep. David Boyer (R) featured an image of a person seemingly collecting signatures for the ballot measure and an audio recording where he significantly misrepresented what the cannabis proposal would accomplish, claiming that its primary
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