Cannabis ballot measures brewing in North Dakota, Nebraska and Arkansas: reports

By Steve Gelsi

Proposals range from adult-use pot to introduction of a medical-cannabis program

Petition efforts to get pro-cannabis measures on election ballots this November in North Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska have been bearing fruit, according to reports.

Three groups have now turned in petitions for review by officials in the three politically conservative states, who must determine whether the signatures are valid before placing the measures on ballots in November.

Arkansans for Patient Access has submitted 111,400 signatures, more than the 90,704 needed, for a ballot measure that would expand the state's medical-cannabis program by allowing healthcare providers to recommend cannabis to anyone who thinks they would benefit from it. The Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024 would also allow patients to grow cannabis at home.

Arkansas voters voted down a ballot measure in 2022 to allow recreational cannabis in the state.

Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana said they submitted 114,000 signatures, over the 86,500 required, for each of two separate cannabis measures for the November ballot. One measure would legalize medical cannabis and the second would set up a regulatory framework for it.

After two attempts failed in 2020 and 2022, Nebraska remains one of 12 U.S. states with no medical-cannabis program.

In North Dakota, a group called New Economic Frontier has turned in 22,000 signatures, more than the 15,582 needed, to get a ballot question on recreational pot in front of voters in November.

The measure would allow adults to possess cannabis and would set up a framework for seven manufacturing locations and 18 dispensaries in North Dakota.

An earlier measure in 2022 did not pass after about 55% of voters rejected it.

Meanwhile, an adult-use measure in Florida has been cleared for inclusion on the ballot in November. It requires a 60% majority to pass.

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-Steve Gelsi

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07-10-24 1318ET

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