For the past few days, I have been somewhat worried about overburdening our readers with another missive about Question 8. But then I realized that it has been three weeks since my last detailed email update, and decided that it’s time to double down on “Five Things We Must All Do To Stop The Repeal.” With just over a month to go before the Nov. 3 election, and mail-in voting starting before that, it seems less and less important to coddle subscribers to a publication for an industry that might cease to exist.
In many of our videos and commentaries, I have promised to avoid bombarding you with content on this topic. I also pledged to stop whining about how paid liars for the repeal initiative pissed on the democratic process to secure the signatures required to get on the ballot. After all, what’s most important at this point is to inform the greater public about the imprudence of the referendum, and to simply encourage folks to vote against Question 8.
Needless to say, our team at Talking Joints Memo has flouted the first promise, posting daily interviews and testimonials from industry voices. As painful as it is to expend precious time and resources on ballot coverage instead of on topics like lab testing and social consumption, in some philosophical sense it only seems right to help ensure a future in which all of those issues are relevant. Right now, we need to see the forest to protect the trees.
As for that other vow, to focus on the truth—and the upcoming vote—as opposed to the crush of fibs and fabrications fueling Yes on 8, that’s hard to do when government officials are complicit amplifiers. I’m not being hyperbolic; maddeningly, the ballot question voter guide published by Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin is full of demonstrably false claims. It’s the latest mini coup by the cabal of conservative cozeners coming for cannabis, and it’s demoralizing.
Extra thanks on this front to Jason Reposa of Good Feels, whose efforts against Question 8 have been incomparable. In addition to using his personal, podcast, and company’s marketing platforms to boost the anti-repeal mantra, he impugned the claims made by prohibitionists in the red booklet that’s mailed to every voter in the state. According to the guide, the commonwealth “does not endorse these arguments, and does not certify the truth or accuracy of any statement made in these arguments.” Secretary Galvin will, however, use your tax dollars to print and circulate the sickening disinformation.
I recommend that you check Jason’s video and references for a fuller picture of the scam at hand, but one claim is so ludicrous it “uses Massachusetts crash data that ends in 2017,” even though, as he points out, the first recreational store in Massachusetts opened in late 2018. It’s all cherrypicked garbage that isn’t worth mentioning—unless you’re tearing it apart, line by line, in order to reveal just how unscrupulous the anti-marijuana monsters truly are.
This is not my final siren, nor is it a last warning before the polls open. I’ll be back with some final stretch encouragement, and no doubt with other updates as well in the interim. You may even see me in your town or city, as we have more Keep It Legal events coming up including a panel and rally at Thrive Middleboro on Oct. 10. Also save the date Oct. 17 for a united march held by all the dispensaries in Haverhill, as well as Oct. 22 for our next Burn & Learn anti-repeal party for budtenders with NECANN in Lawrence.
Pictured: Stem Haverhill co-owners Caroline and Adam Pineau speak at the 2026 Boston Freedom Rally about social consumption on the ballot in that city (Question 10) in addition to Question 8. Save the date for a unified rally with all the Haverhill dispensaries in that city on Oct. 17.
