The wins have been piling up for the anti-marijuana movement.
Today, Massachusetts voters took a major step to repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state. This afternoon, the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts submitted the more than 74,000 signatures required to put the question on the 2026 state ballot. Once certified by the secretary of the commonwealth, the measure will go to the state legislature for consideration. If lawmakers decline to pass it, organizers must collect over 12,000 more signatures to put it to a statewide vote next year.
Massachusetts isn’t alone. In Idaho, where marijuana is currently illegal, a measure to block future voter initiatives to legalize the drug is on the ballot for 2026. And if you read the fine print of the federal bill passed last month to end the government shutdown, you’ll find a provision to ban the sales of a vast majority of THC-infused products, including drinks and snacks.
There’s an anti-weed backlash in America, and the influence of drug policy scholar Kevin Sabet, founder of the advocacy group Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), is undeniable. Sabet, who served as White House Office of National Drug Control Policy adviser in the 2000s—the only person appointed to that post by presidents from both parties—helped fund and advise the activists working to advance the Massachusetts statute.
I spoke with him on the heels of his victory in Massachusetts to make sense of where the Trump administration stands on marijuana policy, how Sabet turned the tide against cannabis legalization, and the stakes of standing up to a marijuana industry that seems to have adopted the Big Tobacco playbook.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Josh Code: With about 76,000 signatures submitted today, a 2026 ballot measure to repeal the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts looks likely. What happens next?
Kevin Sabet: This is the first bipartisan step toward Massachusetts making a much-needed improvement in public health. Legal recreational weed does nothing but harm to the towns and cities and states where it’s sold; this is true no matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican. Kids have paid the price while pot barons laugh all the way to the bank. The decision now rests with the state legislature, where the measure will land once the signatures are certified.
