Will North Dakota Legalize Marijuana Without Limits on Growth or Possession?

Thursday, August 23, 2018

North Dakotans will vote on whether to legalize adult-use cannabis this November after pro-marijuana activists collected enough signatures to include the ballot measure in this year’s mid-term elections.

If voters approve the initiative, adults 21 and older will be able to possess and grow an unlimited amount of cannabis, no restrictions. The proposal would allow the implementation of a distribution and sales program for legal cannabis, and there would be a provision allowing for marijuana convictions to be expunged.

“This model is 100-percent plug-and-play. The cities, if they want to, can put zoning regs on it. But this is workable, implementable and executable from day one. That’s the biggest strength of this bill, in my opinion. It’s a true free-market, laissez-faire bill,” David Owen, chairman of Legalize ND, told Cannabis Business Times.

The petition to legalize recreational marijuana collected over 15,000 valid signatures, well over the required 13,452 signatures required to get the measure on November’s ballot.

NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri told Forbes, “We applaud the hard work and dedication from the campaign and countless volunteers on the ground in North Dakota who went door to door and out into their communities to gather the signatures required to put this on the ballot in November.

“Marijuana legalization is no longer a regional or partisan issue. Well over 60% of all Americans support ending our nation’s failed prohibition, and I expect North Dakota voters to send shockwaves across the country this fall when they join the growing contingent of states who have chosen the sensible path of legalization and regulation over prohibition and incarceration.”

North Dakota legalized medical marijuana in 2016 with 64% in support, but the state has been slow to implement the program. After two years of waiting, the North Dakota Department of Health plans to begin medical sales by the end of 2018 or early 2019.