The Western Mass Area Labor Federation calls on voters to vote “no” on Question 8, which would reverse the legalization of cannabis if passed. We believe a no vote fights austerity, preserves jobs, and continues the fight for racial justice.
Massachusetts takes in between $150 to $200 million every year in revenue generated from the sale of cannabis. Losing revenue from the cannabis tax would be disastrous for our fellow workers in the public sector and the broad masses of working-class people in the state of Massachusetts. In 2025, Massachusetts lost more than $3.7 billion in the budget due to the Trump tax cuts. Right now, we can’t afford to lose any more revenue that our schools, roads, healthcare system, and other services rely on.
UFCW Local 1459, UFCW Local 1445, and the Teamsters have organized various cannabis sale and grow facilities across the state. In Easthampton, cannabis cultivators at INSA recently organized a union with Local 1459 to improve their compensation and working conditions. By organizing shops in the cannabis industry, we can turn the industry into a source of good union jobs for community members. Their jobs are on the line if this question passes.
Finally, we in Massachusetts have made progress in regard to racial disparity in policing, though there is a long way to go, by legalizing the recreational use of cannabis. In 2018, the ACLU (Link: https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/) reported that Black residents of Massachusetts were 4 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession before legalization, above the national average. If Question 8 succeeds, then it will turn back the clock on the progress we’ve made in ending racist arrests for recreational possession, and put in jeopardy a lot of members of the working class, many of whom we represent.
Ian Kelly
Hatfield