The projected late Tuesday that Massachusetts voters rejected Question 8, shutting down a push that would have repealed recreational cannabis after 10 years. The projection means the legal market stays in place for now, preserving a system voters created a decade ago.
That matters because supporters of the industry say a repeal would have hit an operation that employs tens of thousands of people in Massachusetts and has brought in roughly $2 billion in tax revenue since legalization. Diana DiZoglio celebrated the result and said, “It’s a huge, huge win for Massachusetts,” as the ballot count continued.
The fight over Question 8 was part of a broader night of ballot counting that also included Question 9, the measure expanding public records access. Late Tuesday night, the projected that question would pass with more than 80% of the vote as of 12:14 a.m. Wednesday morning, a result that would bring the governor’s office and state Legislature under the same public records law that already applies to state agencies and city and town governments.
Massachusetts is unusual here. It is the only state in the country where all three branches of government are exempt from having to share communications, reports and other public records. Question 9 would change that, but its numbers were still moving at the time the cannabis result landed.
That is where the night still had unfinished business. As of 12:13 a.m., the had not yet projected the result of Question 9. Just after midnight, with 49% of the votes counted, the yes side was leading with 69% of the vote, leaving the broader transparency question in motion even as Question 8 appeared settled.
Ruth Zakarin framed that earlier vote as a defense of a law approved two years ago, saying, “This victory belongs to the people of Massachusetts, who through their votes said a resounding yes to protecting this legislation and keeping our communities safe from gun violence.” For cannabis, though, the verdict was simpler: the repeal effort fell, the decade-old legalization decision survived, and the industry kept its legal footing while the rest of the ballot count continued.
