Tag: South Dakota

  • Maryland, Missouri Approve Recreational Marijuana

    Maryland, Missouri Approve Recreational Marijuana

    Several states had recreational marijuana on the ballot. Maryland and Missouri became the 20th and 21st states to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use on Tuesday, but cannabis reform efforts met defeat in Arkansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.

    Maryland voters approve a constitutional amendment that legalizes recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. It will go into effect on July 1, 2023, and allow possession of 1.5 ounces or two plants. Possession of small amounts of marijuana was already decriminalized in Maryland. Under the amendment, those previously convicted of cannabis possession and intent to distribute will be able to apply for record expungement, according to media reports.

    Missouri voters ended prohibitions on marijuana in the state and allow personal use for those over the age of 21. It will allow for personal possession up to three ounces and allow individuals with marijuana-related non-violent offenses to petition for release from prison or parole and probation and have their records expunged.

    North Dakota voters rejected a citizen-initiated ballot measure that aimed at allowing the use of marijuana in “various forms” for those who are at least 21 years-old. It would have allowed marijuana possession of up to an ounce and all marijuana to be tested in a facility “for the potency of products and the presence of pesticides” and subject to random inspection.

    South Dakotans rejected legalizing cannabis in the state, too. Legalization for recreational marijuana use had passed in South Dakota in 2020, but the results were nullified by state courts. According to the proposed 2022 ballot measure, marijuana possession of up to an ounce would have been legal. It also would have legalized possession of marijuana paraphernalia, use and distribution.

    Additionally, Arkansas voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would have allowed cannabis possession and recreational consumption by adults as well as the sale by licensed facilities. Had it passed, cannabis possession of up to an ounce would have been legal and some tax revenue from marijuana sales would have contributed to funding law enforcement.

  • Several States set to Vote on Recreational Marijuana

    Several States set to Vote on Recreational Marijuana

    Credit: Fresh Ideas

    Recreational marijuana legalization is on the ballot in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota next week.

    If approved, the states would join the 19 (along with Washington, DC) where recreational use is currently legal. Thirty-seven states, three territories and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

    Medical marijuana is currently legal in each of the five states that will vote on recreational use on Tuesday.

    Marijuana is illegal under federal law, even as individual states have moved toward legal use for recreational and medical purposes.

    But in October, the Biden administration announced that President Joe Biden pardoned all people convicted of federal marijuana possession through executive action.

    Leaders in the U.S. Senate introduced sweeping legislation earlier this year that would end federal prohibitions on marijuana more than 50 years after Congress made the drug illegal.

  • Voters Approve Marijuana Measures in 5 U.S. States

    Voters Approve Marijuana Measures in 5 U.S. States

    Some 16 million Americans were added to the list of places that allow adults to use marijuana legally, after voters in New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota and Montana on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved ballot measures on weed.

    They will join about 93 million Americans who live in states that already have legalized weed, meaning about 1 in 3 Americans now live in states where marijuana is legal for anyone at least 21 years old, according to Politco.com.

    South Dakota and Mississippi voters also approved measures to legalize medical marijuana on Election Day.

    The momentum in states, including deep red parts of the country, should be a call to action for the federal government, said Steve Hawkins, the executive director of legalization advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

    “Regardless of who controls the White House, the House and the Senate, we should demand landmark federal marijuana reform in 2021,” Hawkins said.

    The New Jersey measure does not immediately legalize marijuana, however. The state Legislature still needs to pass legislation to implement legalization.

  • Marijuana Legalization Vote on Ballot in 5 U.S. States

    Marijuana Legalization Vote on Ballot in 5 U.S. States

    Credit: Sharon McCutcheon

    Marijuana legalization is on the ballot in five U.S. states on Nov.3, four of which are for recreational use. The financial crisis cause by the Covid-19 pandemic and potential to bring in more taxes are the motivation for the measures.

    In less than 2 weeks, voters will decide on whether to legalize recreational marijuana in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota. Mississippi will also consider a pair of ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana.

    Despite COVID-19 risks, advocates managed to collect more than 661,000 signatures in four of those states in the 2020 election cycle to put the questions on the ballot, according to rollcall.com. Some began before the pandemic hit, while advocates with later deadlines added protective steps like using individual plastic-wrapped pens.

    In recent years, 11 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana for adults 21 years old or older, while 33 states plus the District have legalized medical marijuana for some patients.

    If successful, as is likely in all the states this year except possibly Mississippi, the new legalization efforts could altogether bring in hundreds of millions in tax revenue, which could help blunt the impact of states’ plummeting revenue due to the economic collapse, according to rollcall.com.

    Matthew Schweich, deputy director at the Marijuana Policy Project, said many supporters were already swayed by the revenue marijuana taxes bring in. The dire budget conditions of many states could increasingly become a strong argument in favor of legalization.

    “Voters are aware of the fiscal pain that’s already here or coming down the road. I believe they’re seeing marijuana revenue as part of the solution,” he said.