Maine Anti-Cannabis Signature Gatherers Allowed to Lie About Petition

Petitioners in Maine are free to trick registered voters into signing a petition aimed at wiping out the state’s adult-use cannabis program, including licensed dispensary sales for those 21 and older.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows told lawmakers on Jan. 12 that her hands were tied following complaints over the weekend that canvassers were misleading or lying about a prohibition proposal while collecting signatures.

Bellows approved the citizen initiative petition for circulation last month, with the referendum’s organizers needing to gather 67,682 valid signatures by Feb. 2 to qualify for the November 2026 ballot, or by June 8, 2027, to qualify for the 2027 election.

“We received a number of complaints over the weekend from individuals who allege that they were misled or lied to about a petition that is seeking to amend Maine’s cannabis laws,” Bellows told lawmakers on the Joint Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs on Monday.

She explained that the petition, “An Act to Amend the Cannabis Legalization Act and the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Act,” is available on her office’s website, and that it intends to repeal provisions of the Cannabis Legalization Act, which voters approved with a 50.3% majority in 2016 to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and older.

“People are alleging that what is being spoken about [for] that petition is not congruent with the content of the petition itself,” Bellows said. “Now, unfortunately, petitioners have a First Amendment right to say whatever they want to say.”

“You have a right to lie,” Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Kennebec, who chairs the committee, said, clarifying the matter for his fellow committee members.

“You have a right to lie under the First Amendment,” Bellows said. “So, I do not have authority to take any enforcement action over the truth of what is being said.”

The secretary of state said that there are two main allegations that her office will continue to monitor. Under state law, circulators cannot:

1. leave petitions unattended in the back of a room for people to sign (they must be present for all signatures collected); and
2. detach a copy of the actual statutory proposal from the petition itself (everyone who signs must have the opportunity to read the statutory proposal in its entirety).

“Those two violations are reasons that signatures would not be counted,” Bellows said. “But someone signing because they believe it’s something else, that unfortunately happens frequently. And so, we really encourage citizens to think about what you’re signing, why you’re signing it, and what it means, and to take the time to read the legislation.”

Bellows’ comments came after Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland, posted a recording on social media on Jan. 9, showing what he said was a petition circulator relating the prohibition proposal to “spoiled milk” and “spoiled cheese” to a potential signer.

The person in the recording said the petition was about more regulation, not less.

“So, some people are selling old weed that’s been moldy, cause they keep it in the storage or something,” the circulator said. “Like, we’re trying to make it to where it’s regulated like a restaurant. You don’t go into a restaurant eating [off] dirty dishes. They gotta sanitize it. We just trying to have it more standardized. … It doesn’t take away from having it. It just makes sure when you go buy it, it’s not old.”

The man told the potential signer that he was from Texas and that he was getting paid $1 per signature.

Under the petition’s actual proposal, Maine’s adult-use cannabis market wouldn’t be more regulated; it would cease to exist. In addition, adults 21 and older would no longer be allowed to home cultivate up to six mature plants for personal use.

However, adults could still legally possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of cannabis without criminal penalties – they’d just have to purchase it from unregulated sources.

Meanwhile, the initiative petition aims to install stricter testing and tracking requirements for Maine’s medical cannabis program. While Maine’s adult-use cannabis program requires that products be tested for mold, pesticides, heavy metals and other harmful contaminants, the state’s medical cannabis program doesn’t currently live by that same set of rules.

In posting the recording of the signature gatherer, Boyer advised his constituents not to sign the petition.

“I’m getting reports from Bangor to Biddeford,” the congressman wrote. “Out-of-state petitioners are straight up lying to get the cannabis repeal on the ballot. The initiative wipes out adult use and home grow rights! DON’T SIGN AND MAKE SURE OTHERS DON’T EITHER.”

Boyer, who sits on the Joint Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs, asked Bellows on Jan. 12 if she would be willing to issue a press release informing Mainers that her office had received complaints.

“Just a couple bullet points on what the initiative actually does, I think, would go a long way,” he said, adding that he “worked hard” on the 2016 initiative to legalize adult-use cannabis.

Before being elected to the Maine House in 2022, Boyer spearheaded the state’s Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol (Question 1) as the former political director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

Bellows assured Boyer that her office could post something about the repeal petition and the associated complaints, suggesting that social media might be the most effective forum.

Bellows reaffirmed that her authority is limited to the validity of the petitions themselves.

“I do not have any authority to intervene or for there to be any consequence in terms of the behavior of the petitioners,” she said.

The secretary of state reminded committee members that while she doesn’t believe out-of-state circulators should be allowed to petition in Maine, she lost that case in 2022, when a U.S. federal appeals court ruled that the state can’t restrict who can gather signatures for ballot initiatives.

That lawsuit stemmed from Maine state Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, leading a 2021 initiative to ban non-citizen voting. The initiative challenged the Maine Constitution, which requires signature gatherers to be state residents who are registered to vote.

“I lost that case when Representative Faulkingham sued me,” Bellows said. “So, signatures are people for hire. They get shipped in from outside of the state, and they get paid a lot of money per signature. … And so, there is a huge financial incentive to get those signatures, by hook or by crook.”