Marijuana Legalization Group: More than 25,000 Signatures Support Ballot Question

Boston, MA - Today marks the deadline to get questions on the ballot in November 2016, and a group promoting marijuana legalization believes it has sufficient signatures and then some.

The Massachusetts Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced this week, "On Wednesday we're going to turn in the remainder of the more than 25,000 signatures we collected over the last six weeks!‪"

A minimum of 10,792 signatures is needed to make the November ballot, and more than doubling that count effectively assures the campaign will have enough validated signatures to proceed with its ballot initiative.

The push follows four years after Massachusetts legalized medical marijuana, a slow-rolling process that so far has certified only a handful of dispensaries. Politicians including Gov. Charlie Baker have pushed back at the prospect of further expanding those offerings, opposition bolstered by an incident this spring that resulted in the death of a state trooper by a driver allegedly under the influence of marijuana.

Assuming the question makes it to the ballot, voters will be asked whether they support the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

The proposed bill behind the ballot initiative lays out the taxation and other policy pieces. It outlines a graduated licensing process that, among other things, caps retailers, marijuana product manufacturers and cultivators at 75 each. As proposed, the act would take effect in December of this year, create a regulating body called the "cannabis control commission" and begin issuing retail licenses in October 2017, beginning with current medical marijuana facilities. That means sales would likely start no sooner than 2018, and that's assuming the state Legislature doesn't prolong the process.

Penalties, as outlined in the bill, echo those in place for alcohol and/or tobacco. Like alcohol, sales would be restricted to people 21 and older. Home-growing would be allowed, with limitations, and smoking would be prohibited in public places and other locations where cigarette use is already banned.

The deadline for signatures is today, and the question will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot.