Oklahoma, North Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska are submitting signatures to put cannabis on the November vote

It looks like another green wave could come in November.

Last week, residents of Oklahoma, Arkansas and North Dakota submitted signatures to qualify measures to legalize adult-use cannabis for their respective state elections in November 2022.

And they didn’t just squeak by either. Campaigns in all of these states have garnered over 50% more signatures than were required to participate.

In similarly conservative Nebraska, hopefully activists submitted enough signatures to put medical marijuana back on the ballot. In 2020, the state Supreme Court ended a medical marijuana ballot measure on highly dubious grounds.

“As in past election years, voters in both traditionally ‘red’ and ‘blue’ states will have an opportunity to cast their ballots to end failed cannabis criminalization policies,” said NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano , in a recent press release . “And if history is any precedent, voters in 2022 will show once again that legalization and regulation of marijuana has the support of a majority of voters, regardless of geography or party affiliation.”

Oklahoma hits Signature Drive out of the park

The group Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws had to submit 95,000 valid signatures in order for legalization of adult use to qualify for November’s election… and they submitted a whopping 164,000 signatures.

Assuming 95,000 signatures prove valid, Oklahomans will vote on Question 820 this November. The measure would allow the purchase and possession of up to an ounce of cannabis (or its equivalent in other forms), tax the purchase at 15%, allow individuals to grow six plants at home, and create a path to obliteration.

Medical marijuana is currently legal in Oklahoma, where the state program is both booming and notoriously messy.

Related

When did your state legalize marijuana?

Large turnout in Arkansas

Responsible Growth Arkansas only needed to collect 89,000 signatures to reach adult use in the November vote, but they submitted more than double that: 193,000 signatures.

Their measure would not allow home cultivation and would limit licenses in the state: 20 growers and 120 dispensaries.

The measure has been criticized for creating an industry framework that could be vulnerable to monopolization.

North Dakota is leading voters to succeed where lawmakers have failed

Although North Dakota activists only needed 16,000 signatures — 2% of the state’s population — to pass their adult-use measure in November’s vote, they submitted nearly 26,000.

The measure would allow for the purchase and possession of up to one ounce of cannabis or its equivalent in other forms. Individuals could grow up to three plants at home.

Last year the state Senate rejected a bill that would have legalized marijuana. It contained provisions similar to the current measure.

Fingers crossed for Nebraska

Activists in Nebraska had to submit 87,000 valid signatures on two separate measures to qualify medical marijuana for November’s election. They submitted more than 90,000. In other words, if more than 3,000 signatures prove invalid, they do not qualify for the vote.

The same group, Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana, managed to qualify medical marijuana for the 2020 vote, but the state Supreme Court ruled that the measure was invalid (although the Nebraska Secretary of State had already given it the green light).

“This is an outrageous and deeply flawed decision by a group of activist judges,” Matthew Schweich, associate director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement at the time.

The 2022 measures, if qualified for the vote and passed in November, would separately prevent arrests of marijuana patients and establish a regulator to provide a framework for state industry.

Related

The Nebraska Supreme Court ends the 2020 Medical Marijuana Initiative

Max Savage Levenson

Max Savage Levenson probably has the lowest cannabis tolerance of any author on the cannabis beat. He also writes about music for Pitchfork, Bandcamp and other bespectacled people. He is the co-host of the Hash podcast. His dream interview is Tyler the Creator.

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