2026-08-18
Signature collectors stood outside Massachusetts shopping centers telling people to sign a petition to end fentanyl. Cannabis workers signed it. What they had actually signed was the petition to repeal the adult use program that pays their bills. Tim Swain started getting the phone calls. He led the court challenge to keep that question off the November ballot, and his team lost. In this episode he walks Jason through what the challenge argued, why two other ballot questions were struck on the same reasoning while this one survived, and what is actually buried inside a single yes-or-no vote.Tim Swain is a trial attorney and chair of the litigation department at Vicente LLP. He came to cannabis after seven years at a top New York firm ended with a stress-triggered illness, surgery, and a fight to get off painkillers that shaped how he thinks about the plant. He explains the social equity program and trust fund that disappear if the question passes, why he believes Massachusetts was chosen as a national test case, and what a cold bench in an appellate courtroom tells a litigator about their odds. In the second half he breaks down the federal DEA rescheduling process from the inside, including why the agency argues as the moving party and why only seven opposing parties made it into the room this round.Statements about the campaign, signature collection, and pending proceedings reflect the guest's account and opinion, and nothing here is legal advice. 21+ where legal. Listen to the full conversation on High Functioning.CHAPTERS00:00 The signature collectors2:06 What litigation actually means3:59 What the ballot question hides10:09 Inside the SJC argument30:06 The ground game35:32 Why Massachusetts first47:50 How DEA rescheduling works1:02:26 Talk to your lawyer early