Bid to Repeal Maine Adult-Use Cannabis Industry Fails to Reach Ballot

The citizen-led ballot proposal to end adult-use cannabis sales and home grows in Maine has failed to qualify for this year’s ballot, the Portland Press Herald reports.

The Mainers for a Safe and Healthy Future campaign needed to submit at least 67,682 signatures by Monday to qualify, and the secretary of state’s office said Wednesday it had not received the signatures by the deadline.

The proposal sought to end Maine’s regulated adult-use cannabis industry and home growing provisions, but leave the possession reforms and the state’s medical cannabis industry intact.

Financial reports from the campaign last month showed just one donor, a dark money group linked to the national anti-cannabis organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), which contributed $2 million, the report said.

Meanwhile, Maine cannabis advocates claimed that petitioners for the repeal campaign had been lying to voters and misrepresenting the proposal to collect their signatures.

There were similar complaints about the signature-gathering methods in Massachusetts, which is facing its own cannabis industry repeal campaign — which also received funding from SAM, about $1.5 million.