4 Takeaways from North Dakota’s Upcoming Adult-Use Ballot Initiative
North Dakota Looks to Fully Legalize Marijuana
This fall, North Dakotans will vote on whether to legalize marijuana use for adults 21 and over. Legalize North Dakota, the group that organized the campaign and collection of signatures, submitted their ballot measure earlier this year with 14,637 valid signatures. The measure itself proposes amendments to the state’s existing laws surrounding marijuana. Here are 4 things you need to know about North Dakota‘s adult-use ballot initiative.
- The measure would legalize “non-violent marijuana related activity” for those 21+, except for selling to minors, and will not impose limits on possession or personal cultivation.
- The measure would create a process for expunging records of those previously convicted of charges made legal by the measure, except for cases where a person is under the age of 21. For anyone under the age of 21, the law creates a new specific subset of non-felony penalties.
- The measure does not provide a system to regulate the marijuana sales that it would allow.
- The measure does not provide a means of integrating with the state’s current medical marijuana program or its licensees.
Measure 3 Overview
The measure has been met with significant opposition from groups within the state, including the North Dakota Sheriff’s and Deputies Association, and is criticized as being too loosely written. The measures’ authors have stated that they left it deliberately open-ended in order to allow the state more room when crafting the regulations, taxes, and zoning requirements upon licensure. This would be no small challenge for North Dakota’s legislators should the measure come to pass, as the state’s medical marijuana program passed in 2016 but is only just now licensing its first businesses.
The most important thing you can do between now and November is spread the word and get your friends and family motivated to vote!