In March of this year, North Dakota’s House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults and also decriminalize it. Unfortunately, the Senate rejected the House-approved marijuana bill. And even a last-ditch effort to have legalization put on the statewide ballot was rejected. Now activists are making plans for the 2022 ballot.

This leaves many people wondering what is next for North Dakota and recreational cannabis legalization. David Owen from Legalize ND spoke with Plain Talk to discuss the future of cannabis legalization.

Many people were optimistic after the bill passed in the House. But the Senate did not have the support needed to pass the legislation. There were only about seven legislatures in favor of full legalization.

The rest were operating out of fear of a ballot measure. The incentive is to pass the legislation to stay in charge of the laws. Instead of it going to a ballot measure to have the people vote on it and be in control of the legalization laws.

When one activist group showed up in the Senate in support of legalization. But did not have the signatures for a ballot measure to show the people supported it, the Senate rejected the legalization effort. Thinking that a ballot measure was not inevitable in the near future.

2022 Ballot Measure

Now residents and activists will have to sit and wait for the right time to submit a new petition in order to start the process again. David Owen from Legalize ND talked about what will go into drafting a new ballot measure for the 2022 general ballot.

They will have to decide what measure they are willing to add and or remove for the best chance of getting recreational cannabis legalized through a vote by the people.

After they finalize it, they will need to submit the ballot to the Secretary of State. After that, they will need to collect signatures from people in support of the measure. This process requires a lot of patience and hard work.

But to many activists, it is worth it to get cannabis legalized in their state. “In states that you legalize you see decreases in workplace safety accidents and you see decreases in crime,” Said David Owen of Legalize ND.

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