Marijuana advocates race to qualify for the ballot

June 25, 2020
AggregatedNews
Policy & Legal
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The pandemic forced some legalization campaigns to fold, but others are still fighting to make it before voters in November.

The coronavirus pandemic may have upended marijuana advocates’ plans for a banner year of legalization ballot initiatives. But advocates in a handful of states are still fighting to salvage campaigns to put legalization questions to voters in November.

Legalization questions in New Jersey, South Dakota and Mississippi already made this year’s ballot before the pandemic hit. And recreational legalization is all but certain to be on the ballot in Montana after advocates collected more than 130,000 signatures by its deadline last Friday.

But the public health crisis put an end to efforts in Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma. A campaign to legalize medical marijuana in Idaho all but called it quits before a lawsuit against the state by a separate ballot initiative successfully petitioned the courts to be able to gather signatures online. The Idaho Cannabis Coalition is now looking into the possibility of restarting its campaign.

Meanwhile, advocates in Nebraska, Arkansas and Arizona are plowing ahead with their campaigns with varying degrees of confidence.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” said Matthew Schweich, deputy director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which is backing ballot efforts in Montana and Nebraska. [Read More @ Politico]

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