North Dakota Could Have Legalization Proposal on This Year's Ballot

Cannabis News World

Sep 8

North Dakota Could Have Legalization Proposal on This Year's Ballot
High Times

Activists in North Dakota took a big step this week toward getting a cannabis legalization measure before the state's voters in November. The group known as New Approach North Dakota said that it submitted boxes' worth of signatures on Monday to the secretary of state's office in the capital city of Bismarck in an effort to get the measure on this year's ballot. According to local television station KFYR, organizers for the group "submitted a petition with more than 25,000 signatures," which was "over 10,000 more than they need to place the issue on the ballot in November." The secretary of state's office now has until August 15 "to verify the signatures and determine whether the measure will be placed on the ballot," according to the station. Should the measure qualify for the ballot, it could serve as another test case for how much attitudes have shifted on the issue, even in the most conservative corners of the United States. It will also reveal how much public opinion has changed in North Dakota since 2018, when voters in the state rejected a ballot initiative that would have legalized recreational cannabis. "In a four-year period, call it, we've gone from being surrounded by non-legal states, to everything around us being legal. And that just shows the entire culture and attitude, not just in North Dakota, but in the Midwest as a whole, is shifting on this," said David Owen, campaign manager for New Approach North Dakota, as quoted by KFYR. If the measure qualifies for the ballot and wins approval from voters, individuals in North Dakota "who are 21 and older will no longer be punished for using marijuana in the privacy of their home," according to a summary of the measure, which would permit "adults to possess up to one…