When Haverhill residents head to the polls this November, they will be the first voters in Massachusetts asked to decide whether adults should have a licensed place to gather and consume cannabis inside the city.
Caroline Pineau, owner of Stem Haverhill, announced on August 6th that the city had certified enough voter signatures to place a cannabis social consumption question on the November municipal ballot. If approved, the measure would permit cannabis consumption in dedicated spaces operating under the rules and regulations established by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission.
Pineau, who has already begun work on a consumption lounge in the upper floors of her Washington Street building, said the petition drive was launched because the Haverhill City Council, which holds the authority to approve social consumption sites, had not acted on the issue.
A Petition That Cleared the Bar With Room to Spare
To qualify for the ballot, Pineau needed 3,160 certified signatures from registered Haverhill voters. She submitted more than 5,200, and the city ultimately certified 3,532, she said.
“We are beyond happy that so many Haverhill voters made their opinion known by signing our petition to bring safe, regulated social consumption to the city,” Pineau said. “I think they recognize the basic fairness of giving cannabis consumers similar options as those going into a restaurant or café for a cocktail.”
The signature-gathering effort was a visible presence around the city over the summer. Stem staff collected signatures at events including CiderFeast in June, and Pineau credited the city’s other cannabis retailers for helping with the drive. Early estimates had put the required total closer to 4,700 signatures, but the certified threshold of 10% of registered voters came in at 3,160.
According to Pineau, the social consumption question is expected to be the only local question on Haverhill’s November ballot.
Why Go Directly to Voters?
Pineau was blunt about her reasons for taking the question to the public rather than continuing to wait on City Hall.
“We are moving forward with this ballot initiative because we cannot rely on the city to enact social consumption ordinances,” she said. “Despite the overwhelming support for legalization in 2016, our elected officials have not taken the necessary steps to align with the will of Haverhill voters.”
The council has not been entirely silent on the matter. In April, it voted 11-0 to refer a zoning hearing request, filed by attorney Paul Magliocchetti on behalf of Haverhill Stem LLC, to the Planning Board and city solicitor. The request sought a zoning change to allow the licensing and operation of a marijuana social consumption establishment. No substantive discussion took place before the vote, and the matter had not advanced to an ordinance by the time Pineau filed her petition.
Pineau told the Boston Globe she hopes to keep working with city officials on an ordinance behind the scenes, but felt the council’s inaction left her no choice but to put the question to residents. City officials did not immediately respond to the Globe’s request for comment.
Pineau also framed the effort as part of a longer pattern in Massachusetts cannabis policy, where voters rather than legislative bodies have driven each major change: decriminalization in 2008, medical cannabis in 2012 and adult-use retail legalization in 2016.
“Haverhill voters now have the chance to lead again,” she said.
What Would Change if the Question Passes
Massachusetts has been slow to bring cannabis lounges online. The Cannabis Control Commission finalized regulations for social consumption establishments in December 2025, and municipalities have been able to opt in by town meeting, city council vote or local referendum since Jan. 2, 2026. Despite that, the commission’s zoning tracker shows no community has yet put the changes into effect, and several would-be lounge operators across the state have reported losing money while waiting for a city or town to go first.
The state’s framework creates three license types: supplemental licenses for existing dispensaries that want to add on-site consumption, hospitality licenses for standalone consumption spaces such as cafés or yoga studios, and event-organizer licenses for temporary consumption events.
Stem’s plan falls into the first category. Pineau broke ground this year on a renovation of more than $2 million to convert the upper floors of 124 Washington St. into a lounge above the existing dispensary, describing it as a gathering space for cannabis enthusiasts akin to a café or coffee shop.
Haverhill has four cannabis retailers, but Pineau’s is the only one that would be eligible to add a lounge if the measure passes, because Stem is the city’s only participant in the state’s social equity program, a prerequisite for the initial round of consumption licenses.
“We are the first municipality to put a social consumption question on the ballot and we could become the first city to host a social consumption site, with all the extra tax revenue and job creation that comes with it,” Pineau said. “This is Haverhill’s opportunity to set an example for other cities to follow.”
A Local Vote in the Shadow of a Statewide Fight
The Haverhill question will share the Nov. 3 ballot with a far larger cannabis debate. A statewide initiative petition backed by the Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts, with funding from the Virginia-based group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, would repeal the 2016 adult-use legalization law. Under the proposal, retail sales and licensing would end, while medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of small amounts would remain in place.
Pineau has been at the center of that fight as well. In April she joined three other social equity cannabis operators in a lawsuit before the Supreme Judicial Court seeking to block the repeal question, arguing the attorney general’s summary omitted key consequences, including the dismantling of the social equity program and the loss of local control over dispensaries. The SJC rejected that challenge in June, finding the attorney general properly certified the petition and that her summary was fair. In July, the State Ballot Law Commission overruled a final signature objection and ordered the question printed on November ballots.
That means Haverhill voters could simultaneously approve a cannabis lounge in their downtown while the rest of the state votes on whether adult-use cannabis should continue to exist at all. If the statewide repeal passes, the local social consumption measure would be moot.
What Comes Next
Even with voter approval, a Haverhill lounge would not open overnight. The city would still need to establish local licensing and zoning procedures, and Stem would need to secure a supplemental license from the Cannabis Control Commission before welcoming its first customers upstairs.
For now, Pineau is focused on making the case to her neighbors. Having survived the signature threshold by a wide margin, she is betting that the same voters who backed legalization a decade ago are ready to give cannabis consumers a legal place to gather.
