Boise, ID: House and Senate lawmakers have approved legislation, Senate Concurrent Resolution 127, urging voters to reject a citizen-led effort to legalize medical cannabis access.
Advocates with the group Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho are seeking to place The Idaho Medical Cannabis Act on the November ballot. The measure permits qualified patients with a physician’s recommendation to obtain cannabis from state-licensed operators. Last month, petitioners announced that they had gathered more than 77,000 signatures from registered voters in favor of the proposal. Petitioners must gather 70,725 signatures from Idaho voters to place the question on the ballot. That total must include signatures from at least six percent of voters in 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts. Petitioners have until the end of the month to turn in their signatures for verification.
In response to the effort, lawmakers have approved SCR 127, urging voters to “reject any effort to bring the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act to the ballot.” Text of the resolution alleges that the Act will “have devastating impacts on Idaho children and their families … and would effectively legalize widespread recreational use of marijuana.”
Concurrent resolutions passed by the legislature do not require gubernatorial approval.
Idaho lawmakers historically have opposed any legislative efforts to regulate medical cannabis access despite statewide polling indicating that over 80 percent of Idahoans support legalizing marijuana under a physician’s authorization.
Additional information is available from Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho and from NORML’s Election Central.