Question 8 fails, and Boston voted 79% no. The city's cannabis shops stay open, and a hearing request on new rules is still waiting

Massachusetts voters rejected Question 8, which would have ended recreational marijuana sales. Boston voters rejected it by an even wider margin than the state did. Licensed dispensaries in the city will keep operating under the existing adult-use law.

All numbers below are unofficial.

The results

Boston: 37,358 yes (21.30%) and 138,035 no (78.70%), according to the city's unofficial results page, last updated at 3:46 a.m. Wednesday with all 275 precincts reporting.

Statewide: The Associated Press called the race around midnight with about 48% of votes counted. Nearly 76% of voters were against it, Boston.com reported. WBUR reported Wednesday morning that about three-quarters of voters opposed it.

What it would have done, and what happens now

Question 8 would have ended adult-use retail sales, repealed home growing, and changed possession penalties based on age and amount, Boston.com reported. With the measure defeated, retailers keep operating under current law. Adult-use businesses statewide grossed more than $1.65 billion in 2025, according to Cannabis Control Commission figures cited by Boston.com.

Mayor Michelle Wu opposed the repeal. "I am voting No on 8 to protect that progress, not turn back the clock," she said in an Oct. 14 statement released by the campaign against it, Marijuana Moment reported. The council took no position on the question (our Oct. 27 story).

What our records add

How many businesses. At an April 30 budget hearing, the city's licensing office reported 39 cannabis establishments open in Boston: 33 retail-only, five combining retail and medical, and one delivery operator. The Boston Cannabis Board issued seven licenses in fiscal 2026, four to equity applicants (watch at 30:43).

What the city collects. At an April 14 budget hearing, Council President Liz Breadon asked about marijuana revenue. A city budget official said Boston collects about $3.5 million a year, and that the fiscal 2027 budget assumes about the same (watch at 51:38). That money is now expected to keep coming in.

The hearing order that is still waiting. On May 6, City Councilor Ed Flynn filed an order for a hearing on how Boston will carry out new state marijuana rules (docket 0935). Introducing it, he said the rules include three new social consumption license types, and that the work "will require significant coordination" among city departments and community groups (watch at 2:06:01). "It's also critical that Boston get ahead of this and get it right," he said.

Ten colleagues co-sponsored it: Breadon, Durkan, FitzGerald, Louijeune, Mejia, Murphy, Pepén, Santana, Weber and Worrell. It has been in the Committee on Labor and Economic Development for 182 days, with no hearing in our records.

With the repeal defeated, the questions in Flynn's order are back to being the practical ones: where social consumption sites could open, how the city would license them, and how neighborhoods would weigh in. Those decisions rest with the city's licensing office and Cannabis Board, under state rules.

What's next

• The committee chair decides whether and when to schedule a hearing on docket 0935.
• Precinct-level results, expected from the city on Wednesday, will show how the vote broke down across neighborhoods.
• Our Question 7 story covers the other question that touches city business.