As out-of-state group resurrects anti-cannabis petition, locals prepare to push back

As voters exited the Woodfords Club polling location in Portland on June 9, Alex Perez and Hairo Roque, both from Connecticut, asked them to sign a petition to roll back the recreational use of cannabis that Mainers legalized a decade ago. Similar scenes played out in Poland and other municipalities across the state on Election Day.

This effort to repeal recreational cannabis had seemingly gone quiet after the campaign missed the winter deadline to submit signatures to get on the November ballot. Now with about 40,000 of 67,682 signatures needed (at least 10% of total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election), the campaign is eyeing the November 2027 ballot, said Caroline Alcock of Massachusetts, the group’s general consultant.

As the campaign — which appears to be almost exclusively driven by out-of-state interests — plans to continue signature collecting through the summer, local cannabis supporters are getting organized in opposition.

“To make a bad poker reference, they are ‘pot committed,’” state Rep. David Boyer, who spearheaded legalization efforts back in 2016, said of the campaign’s sole donor, Smart Approaches to Marijuana.



https://mainemorningstar.com/2026/06/22/as-out-of-state-group-resurrects-anti-cannabis-petition-locals-prepare-to-push-back/