North Dakota Cannabis Legalization Initiative Garners Enough Signatures For November Ballot, Activists Say

New Economic Frontier, which is behind the push to legalize marijuana in North Dakota, said on Tuesday that the campaign had gathered enough signatures to place the initiative on the November ballot, reported Marijuana Moment.

The deadline to submit the signatures to the state is Monday, July 8.

"After months of hard work and incredible community support, we are ready to submit our collected signatures at the North Dakota State Capitol," New Economic Frontier said in an email on Tuesday.

Chairperson Steve Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and former mayor of Bismarck, said last week that the signatures have been self-validated so far.

"Once we know the bill is going to be on the ballot, then it turns into opportunities to talk about what cannabis can do for North Dakota from a judicial and law enforcement perspective," Bakken said, according to Minot Daily News. "There's a lot of different layers on this, and giving the public the information to make their own decision as a voter is vitally important."

Read Also: North Dakota Hospice Patients To Self-Certify For Medical Marijuana As Governor Signs Bill

Campaign organizers said in June that the initiative was on the verge of hitting the goal. “With 15,179 signatures collected so far, we are nearing our goal of 15,582 required signatures,” representing 2% of the state's population, the campaign announced in a press release.

However, a new poll showed most North Dakota voters don't want legal marijuana. More precisely, 57% of those asked said they oppose the recreational cannabis reform, while 43% are in favor, according to a survey of 500 likely voters completed by Opinion Strategies on behalf of the Brighter Future Alliance.

Under the measure, personal recreational marijuana use at home would be legal for adults over 21. The measure also proposes setting up a regulatory framework for the production and processing of cannabis as well as prohibited uses.

Bakken explained that the group behind the legalization campaign want to avoid "the Wild West" other states have experienced after enactment of similar laws, nor does it seek an "unfettered recreational law in North Dakota. It's very important to us that the state can regulate it, have oversight, license it, tax it how they see fit."

Previous efforts in 2018 and 2022 to legalize recreational cannabis in North Dakota failed.

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