Legal marijuana likely delayed in Massachusetts despite Election Day win: Report

Massachusetts’ top election official said Monday that recreational marijuana might not officially become legal in the Bay State as soon as expected due to delays caused partially by the White House race.

Preliminary results of the Nov. 8 election suggest Massachusetts voted 54 percent to 46 percent on Election Day in favor of legalizing weed for cultivation, use and retail sale starting Dec. 15. First, however, a successful ballot initiative must be certified by an eight-member Governor’s Council in for it to officially become law

William F. Galvin, the secretary of state for Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe on Monday that the Governor’s Council might not be able to certify the results of the marijuana ballot measure, “Question 4,” until after the legislation is supposed to take effect. The council only meets every Wednesday, and likely won’t consider the results of Question 4 until its Dec. 14 meeting, he told the Globe.

If the group doesn’t review and certify the results before or during that meeting, then the ballot measure could remain in limbo until its next gathering.

“All those tokers can hold their breath a little longer, but they’ll be able to exhale” by early 2017, Mr. Galvin told the Globe.

The delay wasn’t deliberate, Mr. Galvin added, but the effect of concentrating first on the 2016 presidential race.

“By state statute, we were required to preference the electors,” he said, referring to the officials who will cast ballots on behalf of Massachusetts and every other state on Dec. 19.

“No one is trying to delay the marijuana question deliberately,” he said. “It’s just the presidency of the United States is more important than legalizing marijuana.”

Once the law does take effect, adults in Massachusetts will instantly be allowed to posses and grow limited amount of cannabis. The law also authorizes the development of a framework that will be used to go about establishing a state-sanctioned system for retail marijuana sales, but likely won’t yield to the opening of any recreational weed dispensaries until 2018.

Question 4 passed earlier this month by roughly 1.7 million votes, according to unofficial election results, making Massachusetts one of four states where voters agreed to legalize recreational weed on Nov. 8.