By Demetris Owens, Yu-Kuan Miao, Belmont Voice correspondents
Before opening three years ago, Cal Verde Naturals was a garage with a dirt floor. Today, it is a recreational cannabis shop with couches, an extensive menu, and a mission to alleviate the physical and mental pressures of its customers. On Nov. 3, Massachusetts voters will decide whether stores like Cal Verde can stay open a decade after the state first legalized recreational marijuana.
Question 8 would repeal adult-use marijuana sales and home cultivation.
Emma Thurston, Cal Verde’s chief operating officer, had just celebrated the store’s third anniversary when the question made the ballot.
“The fact that it made it on the ballot was a little bit of a surprise to us, just because we didn’t think they could get the signatures,” Thurston said.
Patrick Nestor, a spokesperson for the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, which got Question 8 on the ballot, said his organization is worried about the increase in medical issues from marijuana. He also said that promises made when recreational marijuana was legalized in 2016 have not come to pass.
“We were promised safe, tested products,” Nestor said. “And in 2025, the Cannabis Control Commission shut down a lab for not reporting mold and yeast.”
Thurston argued the recreational cannabis market is on the front line of ensuring product safety. By repealing the law, she said, the public would also be repealing the safety regulations.
“We have a test packet for every single product that comes in this building, and that a customer can see all of the testing results,” said Thurston. “You lose that if you don’t have this industry.”
Out-of-state Backers
The Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts raised $1.55 million in 2025 to support Question 8. But according to a recent report by WBUR, all of that money came from SAM Action, the Virginia-based political arm of Smart Approaches to Marijuana.
The Boston Globe also reported that SAM Action had put nearly $3.2 million into the repeal effort by the end of August.
“The entity that’s responsible for this ballot question is out of state,” Thurston said. “This is a test subject for them.”
The coalition denies being a puppet of an out-of-state group.
“We are completely independent. [SAM Action] are just people that are donating because they think this is a worthy cause,” Nestor said. “This is how [ballot committees] raise the money. It’s really the pot calling the kettle black here.”
Concerns About Marijuana Black Market
Thurston warned that the repeal would not end marijuana use, only where people buy it, pushing clients to the black market.
“There was an illicit market before prohibition ended,” Thurston said. “There’s going to be an illicit market afterward.”
Nestor disagrees.
“The opposition doesn’t want to acknowledge that it’s trivially easy to get a medical marijuana card. There are plenty of people in that program that really are using it recreationally,” said Nestor. “The idea that [Question 8] is fully criminalizing cannabis or rolling back legalization is simply not true.”
Impact of Marijuana on Kids
Nestor’s group also claims there has been a dramatic increase in cannabis use for adolescents aged 12 to 17 since legalization in 2016.
However, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Belmont Wellness Coalition (BWC) tell a different story.
In Belmont, fewer teens report using marijuana since it became legal.
“When we did the survey in 2025, [rates of high schoolers using cannabis] dipped a little,” said Lisa Gibalerio, BWC coordinator. “It went from like 24% to 18%. So that was very encouraging.”
Nationally, CDC data show youth marijuana use dropping from 22% in 2019 to 13% in 2025.
However, the BWC survey also showed that the perception of the harm from cannabis use decreased.
“Since legalization, youth tend to think that cannabis is not that harmful,” Gibalerio said. “They’ve gotten a message from the adults in the state and across the country that it must not be that harmful for them if it’s going to be legal for age 21 and older.”
One factor of the ballot question being considered in Belmont is how recreational cannabis sales would affect its youth, as Belmont’s education system is among the top in the United States. (Irene Yimmongkol/Belmont Voice)
According to the CDC, heavy cannabis use can damage developing brains. Negative effects include reduced coordination, difficulty maintaining attention, and memory problems.
“Your brain is not fully developed until 28,” said Gibalerio. “The younger you start using cannabis, the higher the potential for developing an addiction.”
While Gibalerio believes in cannabis regulation, she does not agree that the answer is to shut down recreational sales.
“I’m not sure repealing retail establishments makes a lot of sense. I don’t think there’s a lot of appetite across the state or even across Belmont for repealing,” Gibalerio said. “[The recreational cannabis market] does bring money back into the state. Hopefully, that’s used for good things.”
Economic Impact
Cal Verde Naturals, like many dispensaries, has campaign materials urging a no vote. (Photo by Irene Yimmongkol)
Belmont collects 3% of the proceeds of marijuana dispensary sales from Cal Verde, bringing in $39,164 in fiscal year 2024, the first year the town received cannabis revenue, and a projected $40,000 for fiscal year 2026.
Statewide, the stakes are much larger. According to the Cannabis Control Commission, all-time cannabis gross sales exceeded $10 billion this year, and sales and excise taxes brought $280 million to $289 million into state coffers in 2025.
However, Nestor said that only represents 1% of state taxes collected.
The legal marijuana business has also provided jobs. Chris Harding, the Cannabis Control Commission chair, said the adult-use cannabis industry in Massachusetts employs nearly 15,000 people.
Cal Verde founder and CEO Kelly Tomasello opened Belmont’s first recreational cannabis dispensary with her co-founder and husband, Steve Tomasello. Thurston was alongside them as she witnessed the couple put their life savings into building the Belmont store.
Now, they worry the jobs they created and the business they built could disappear.
“It’s really sad to just snap fingers and be like, well, the profession that you built for yourself for the last 10 years is gone,” Thurston says. “We have enough of that going on in this economy.”
This story was written by a journalism student in BU’s Newsroom program, a partnership between the university, The Belmont Voice, and other news organizations in the Boston area.