Campaigns that are working to put measures to roll back marijuana legalization on the ballot in two states are facing accusations of \u201cfraudulent\u201d and \u201cmisleading\u201d signature gathering tactics\u2014and not for the first time.<\/p>\n
Now, however, new social media posts from both states appear to show signature collectors for each measure arguing that people who support legal cannabis access should sign the petitions in order to advance or protect marijuana reform.<\/p>\n
A video posted to Reddit of a signature gatherer for the Massachusetts proposal\u2014which would repeal state laws allowing the regulated commercial sales of recreational marijuana<\/a> while maintaining legal possession and continuing the medical cannabis system\u2014shows the man collecting signatures outside a supermarket next to a sign that says \u201ckeep cannabis legal.\u201d<\/p>\n When confronted by a marijuana reform supporter who recorded the petitioner\u2019s interactions with voters, he appeared to be trying to convince them that it is important to qualify the anti-cannabis measure for the ballot in order to then defeat it.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is what we\u2019re fighting against right here. That\u2019s why we vote no,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we can get this to the ballot right here, we vote no.\u201d<\/p>\n The person who captured the video pointed out that Massachusetts voters already approved marijuana legalization years ago, and that the only way it could be imminently repealed is if the new ballot measure qualified for the November election. If the initiative does not get enough signatures to go before voters, the state\u2019s laws will remain the same.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my job,\u201d the petitioner insisted, however. \u201cI know what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a group of rich folks from out of state that want to basically take marijuana to when it was a medical marijuana card,\u201d he said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Proof of the fraudulent signature folks at it again<\/a> The same man also appears to also be gathering signatures for a separate measure in Maine that would similarly repeal laws allowing regulated adult-use marijuana sales<\/a> and home cultivation rights for adults while keeping possession legal and adding new testing requirements for medical cannabis.<\/p>\n A Reddit post shows photos of the man and a colleague sitting at a table with what appears to be the same \u201ckeep cannabis legal sign\u201d from the Massachusetts video. In one photo, he is using one hand to hold up a flyer that says \u201cMaine Cannabis Reform\u201d and the other hand to flip off the camera.<\/p>\n The person who posted the photos said in a comment that the petitioners \u201ctold me that \u2018a bunch of billionaires are trying to make recreational cannabis illegal in Maine\u2019 so they\u2019re up here to help keep it legal,\u201d they said. \u201cAfter showing a variety of confusing images on their phones, they asked me to sign to have it \u2018added to the ballot so that I can vote No in November.’\u201d<\/p>\n The Reddit posted went on to say, \u201cThey were hired by those \u2018billionaires.’\u201d<\/p>\n Anti-cannabis petitioners misleading voters<\/a> Wendy Wakeman, a spokesperson for the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, which is behind the initiative in that state, told Marijuana Moment that she would have a \u201cformal statement later today on how we\u2019ll address this.\u201d<\/p>\n A staffer for the prohibitionist organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), whose affiliated group SAM Action is largely funding the anti-cannabis ballot campaigns<\/a> in both states, declined to comment for this story when reached by Marijuana Moment.<\/p>\n Maine State Rep. David Boyer (R) warned voters in a Facebook post about petitioners circulating the legalization rollback measure in conjunction with the state\u2019s elections this week.<\/p>\n \u201cCannabis legalization repeal petition is out. DECLINE TO SIGN,\u201d Boyer, who led the fight to pass cannabis legalization at the ballot about 10 years ago when he was a staffer for the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), said. \u201cThey have been reported to lie about what the petition does, saying things like it\u2019s about testing.\u201d<\/p>\n The campaigns in both states have previously been accused of misleading petitioning tactics.<\/p>\n In Massachusetts, some voters reported that the campaign used fake cover letters for other ballot measures on unrelated issues<\/a> like affordable housing and same-day voter registration. Legal cannabis supporters filed a formal complaint about the prohibitionist effort\u2019s tactics<\/a>, but the State Ballot Law Commission rejected the challenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n Under state law, Massachusetts ballot campaigns must turn in signatures in two waves. After the first submission, the legislature gets a chance to enact proposed ballot measures after organizers submit an initial round of petitions. Lawmakers last month declined to act on the anti-marijuana measure<\/a>, however, and now organizers need to submit additional 12,429 certified signatures by July 1 to make the November ballot.<\/p>\n The measure is also facing a legal challenge from cannabis industry operatives<\/a> who say it contains \u201cimpermissibly unrelated subjects,\u201d and that the state attorney general\u2019s official summary is \u201cmisleading and deficient.\u201d The state Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0heard oral arguments on the litigation challenging the anti-marijuana initiative<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n In Maine, Boyer, the state lawmaker, previously posted a recording of a petitioner appearing to significantly misrepresent what the anti-cannabis proposal<\/a> would accomplish.<\/p>\n Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) told lawmakers at a hearing in January that she would tell the cannabis campaign\u2019s organizers that her department had received a significant number of complaints<\/a> about its petition circulators\u2019 behavior.<\/p>\n Organizers behind that initiative failed to meet a signature submission deadline to qualify for the November ballot this year<\/a>, and the measure could now appear on the ballot in 2027 if they collect enough valid petitions.<\/p>\n Separately, marijuana opponents had filed a similar legalization rollback initiative in Arizona<\/a>, but that effort was scrapped after the local campaign leader said\u00a0he has \u201cadjusted my viewpoints on the threat to kids\u201d posed by the legal marijuana industry.<\/p>\n Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore, told local media that while he launched the campaign due to concerns about marketing of cannabis to children, he has come to realize that marijuana businesses in Arizona have \u201cnot done some of the things that I thought they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI went into it with a pretty profound belief that it was happening,\u201d Noble said. \u201cI was kind of relying on things that I had seen or read from other people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that they\u2019re specifically marketing gummies and candies and that kind of thing the way that I was led to believe that they were doing,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe they\u2019re doing that in other states. But it\u2019s not happening here in Arizona.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Anti-Marijuana Ballot Campaigns In Maine And Massachusetts Accused Of \u2018Fraudulent\u2019 And \u2018Misleading\u2019 Petitioning Tactics<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Campaigns that are working to put measures to roll back marijuana legalization on the ballot in two states are facing accusations of \u201cfraudulent\u201d and \u201cmisleading\u201d signature gathering tactics\u2014and not for the first time. Now, however, new social media posts from both states appear to show signature collectors for each measureContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86120,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86119\/revisions\/86120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Anti-Marijuana Ballot Campaigns In Maine And Massachusetts Accused Of \u2018Fraudulent\u2019 And \u2018Misleading\u2019 Petitioning Tactics<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"