A decade after legal weed came to Massachusetts, Ballot Question 8 seeks to recriminalize recreational marijuana and to limit the amount a person under 21 can possess.

Voting yes on Question 8 would fully repeal laws that allow the sale, regulation, and taxation of recreational marijuana, end personal cultivation, and make possession of up to two ounces a civil offense. Though recent polling suggests Massachusetts residents will reject the initiative, local budtenders have been sounding the alarm that this measure could end their industry as we know it.

In South Boston, Native Sun Marketing Manager Alex Porter said the dispensary has integrated well into the community over the past three years. The dispensary partners with local businesses, hosts events, and offers educational resources for new smokers.

Like any controlled substance, smoking can have side effects, Porter said. Native Sun prioritizes ensuring people understand what they are consuming and how it will affect them, so they can best guide customers to the product that’s right for them. She worries that repealing legal weed would only end safe, legal, and regulated cannabis products.

“Losing access to safe, tested products is very concerning for us,” Porter said. “It’s going to drive people to look for these products elsewhere, and who knows where they’ll find them and what it will be.”

Director of Retail Operations Nikkie Hanley added that marijuana’s health and wellness benefits impact Native Sun customers every day.

“Research needs to continue on the medical applications of THC and other cannabinoids – but this is a plant,” Hanley said. “A vote ‘No’ on Question 8 is a vote for the Cannabis Control Commission to succeed and for the existing industry to spend time and resources improving what education, regulation, and access that we have for adults, which is far and away above not having it.”

In Hyde Park, Firehouse co-owner Armani White warned that prohibition of recreational weed could signal a return to War on Drugs era policies that disproportionately impacted black and brown residents.

“I got into the industry as an advocate who was worried about stopping frisks and over policing in my community,” he said. “The thought of it not being legal and being criminalized again is just as scary as my business shuddering.”

He said most of the marijuana industry has been run by people who did not suffer from the criminalization of marijuana. Both White and his business partner Sean Berte suffered the consequences of prohibition, shaping their commitment to supporting a cannabis industry that uplifts communities – not just large corporations. When it was gradually legalized in Massachusetts over the past two decades, they committed to repairing damages the War on Drugs had on their community and pushing for social equity in the licensing process.

Now with a worsening economy, White warned that profits are slim and prohibiting marijuana would mostly impact medium-sized and independent stores who cannot easily leave the state or be on-ramped into medical sales.

“We want to create a world that is better for our children, not worse,” White said. “Part of that is having sensible drug policies that don’t catch people up in the dragnet of an unfocused War on Drugs.”

He called Question 8 “reefer madness” and said that it is supported by national organizing groups seeking to end recreational use outright.

He also alleged that the organizers behind Question 8 are out-of-state actors trying to renew “reefer madness” with a misinformation campaign.

SAM Action Inc. funded the entirety of Question 8’s 1.55 million campaign last year and has not been required to disclose the source of those funds. They are behind similar measures in Maine and have generated scrutiny over how they gather signatures.

An objection to the ballot measure was filed in January alleging the campaign fraudulently obtained signatures by tying the issue to affordable housing, funding for public parks, and getting fentanyl off the streets.

The objection claims that paid signature gatherers provided only one side of the petition to voters, thereby obstructing the summary of the proposed law.

Ballot committee chair Wendy Wakeman said the signatures were gathered with integrity and that no coordinated effort exists between campaigns, despite funding coming from the same sources.

“Massachusetts is in the minority of states in the United States in which marijuana is available recreationally,” Wakeman told CommonWealth Beacon in January. “It should be unsurprising that national groups with health concerns are interested in helping Massachusetts craft better, safer marijuana laws.”

Question 8 will be on the ballot in the upcoming midterm elections on Tuesday, November 3. Voter registration is due October 24, with early voting commencing between October 17 and 30.