Annual rally at Boston Common draws thousands of marijuana advocates ahead of historic repeal vote
September 19, 2026 - Boston Globe
 The message to vote “No” on an upcoming ballot question to repeal marijuana legalization was plastered across signs, buttons, and T-shirts amid a crowd of thousands at the 37th annual Freedom Rally, hosted by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition.
The rally, which began in North Adams in 1989, long before marijuana was legal in Massachusetts, has been hosted on the Common’s Carty Parade Field since 1995.
This year’s event billed itself as the “first overtly political” Freedom Rally since recreational marijuana was legalized across the state in 2016. The ubiquitous “Vote No on 8” slogan refers to an upcoming measure, slated as Question 8 on the Nov. 3 ballot, that would repeal state laws legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis.
Hanging over the rally, along with pungent smoke and the heavy thrums of live music, was the impending possibility that Massachusetts could become the first state to reverse its marijuana legislation after legalization.
“It’s so important that we vote no,” said Jimbo Williamson, 42, of the South Shore, who said he’s been coming to the Freedom Rally for over a decade.
”I think there’s a lot of folks that don’t realize just how important it is, and you know, education is one of the most important things we can do. I think that’s one of like the cornerstones of this entire kind of event,” he said.
The campaign to repeal legal recreational marijuana is being led by the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, a Beverly group headed by Kevin Sabet, an outspoken advocate against recreational sales and a former drug policy adviser to various presidential administrations.
Repeal advocates argue that recreational marijuana has led to unchecked rises in cannabis product potencies, as well as rising use among young people and marijuana-related road accidents. But cannabis advocates dispute these points, arguing that a regulated market has benefited both consumers and public health.
At the rally, hundreds of small vendors set up tents around the Common as visitors wandered down the lawn, many of them rolling joints and blowing smoke against the mild wind.
Dr. Keith Saunders, former president of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition, or MassCann, said he’s not worried about the results of the vote.
“Eight will fail,” said Saunders, 58, in an interview outside the MassCann tent as his colleagues handed out informational postcards urging attendees to “Keep Weed Legal” and “Stop the Repeal.”
Saunders cited the three prior statewide ballot questions regarding marijuana reform throughout Massachusetts history — including the decriminalization of the drug in 2008, the legalization of medical marijuana in 2012, and the recreational win in 2016.
“Any attempt to roll back [those victories], people will be very much against it. It’s a matter of driving out the vote,” Saunders said.
All across the lawn and against the slope of Flagstaff Hill, attendees reclined in the grass, enjoying newly purchased product and talking animatedly over the energetic music. Public consumption of marijuana is illegal in Boston, but that didn’t dissuade the large crowds, which did not dissipate into the afternoon.
Jolene Gamboa, 40, of New Bedford, listening to live performances from a picnic blanket, said she appreciated the educational aspect of the event. She remembered listening to a doctor who had taken the stage one year to talk about various myths and realities regarding the medical effects of marijuana use.
“She basically explained, how if you get [the marijuana] from a dispensary, or from someone that you know is not putting anything in it — if it’s just marijuana — it’s never killed anyone,” she said.
“Hearing that from a doctor… was comforting,” Gamboa said. “Because marijuana helps a lot of people, with medical problems, with anxiety, things like that.”
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