Tulsa, OK: Cannabis reform advocates in four states – Arkansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and North Dakota – have recently submitted signatures to election officials to place legalization proposals on the 2022 ballot.
Last Wednesday, representatives with the group Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws announced that they had turned in over 164,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office in an effort to place a binding, statewide marijuana legalization initiative (State Question 820) on the November ballot. That total is well above the number of signatures necessary (94,911) to qualify for the 2022 ballot.
The proposed measure seeks to permit adults to legally possess and home-cultivate personal use qualities of cannabis while also establishing a licensed, retail marketplace. Those with past marijuana convictions, or those who are currently incarcerated for certain cannabis-related crimes, would be able to petition the courts for either record expungement or re-sentencing consideration.
On Friday, the group Responsible Growth Arkansas submitted just over 190,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office to place the Arkansas Adult Use Cannabis Amendment on the November ballot. The constitutional amendment seeks to establish a state-licensed retail cannabis market for those age 21 and older. It also seeks to expand the state’s existing medical cannabis access program by increasing the total number of licensed dispensaries and by eliminating certain taxes. Advocates need just over 89,000 valid signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot.
Also on Friday, the group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana turned in over 90,000 signatures each for a pair of medical cannabis legalization measures — just above the roughly 87,000 necessary to qualify them for the November ballot.
Finally, on Monday, representatives with the group New Approach ND announced that they had turned in 25,762 signatures to Secretary of State’s office. That total is roughly 10,000 signatures above the number of signatures necessary (15,582) to qualify it for the 2022 ballot. The proposed measure permits adults to legally possess and home-cultivate personal use qualities of cannabis while also establishing a licensed retail marketplace.
Legalization measures in South Dakota and Maryland have already been confirmed for ballot placement in their respective states. In May, the group Legal Missouri 2022 turned in more than 385,000 signatures to state officials — more than double the total (171,592) necessary to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot legalizing marijuana.
Additional information is available from NORML’s ‘Election Central.’