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Wyoming Marijuana Legalization Initiative (2016)
| Wyoming Marijuana Legalization Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 8, 2016 | |
| Topic Marijuana | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Wyoming Marijuana Legalization Initiative did not make the November 8, 2016, ballot in Wyoming as an initiated state statute.
The measure would have legalized recreational marijuana for individuals 21 years old and older and medical marijuana for anyone with physician and guardian approval. Furthermore, the initiative would have decriminalized public displays of 3 ounces or less of marijuana and provided penalties for possession of 4 ounces or more of marijuana.[1]
Background
While the Wyoming NORML group originally planned to put this initiative on the ballot, the group changed tactics and decided to first get medical marijuana on the ballot with the 2016 Medical Marijuana Initiative and try to get recreational use legalized in a couple of years. This decision may have been partially motivated by a statewide poll that found that 72 percent of the state's residents support medical marijuana, but only 35 percent support personal use.[2]
Support
National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) campaigned for the measure's support.[1]
Supporters
- Wyoming NORML[3]
- Wyoming Cannabis Activists[4]
Opposition
Opponents
- Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police[1]
Path to the ballot
Supporters of the initiative would have needed to collect signatures equal to 15 percent of the total ballots cast in the 2014 general election within eighteen months after the Office of the Secretary of State provided petitions for circulation. In 2016, supporters had to gather 25,673 valid signatures by February 8, 2016, in order to qualify initiated state statutes for the ballot.
Related measures
The first attempt to legalize marijuana through the initiative process came in 1972, when California activists got an initiative certified for the ballot. The measure was defeated. Marijuana legalization advocates had their breakthrough election in 2012, when both Washington and Colorado legalized recreational marijuana. Oregonians rejected a legalization measure that same year, but approved one two years later in 2014. As of the beginning of 2016, recreational marijuana had been legalized in four states and Washington, D.C. All legalizations came through the initiative process. As of the beginning of 2016, medical marijuana was legal in 25 states.[5]
More than 60 statewide marijuana-related initiatives were submitted for the 2016 ballot. The table below shows the marijuana-related measures that qualified for the 2016 election ballot:
The following table includes past initiative attempts in the United States to legalize marijuana:
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Casper Star-Tribune, "NORML submits initiative to legalize marijuana in Wyoming, for 2016 ballot," January 14, 2014
- ↑ Casper Star Tribune, "Proponents file application for 2016 medical marijuana ballot initiative," April 21, 2015
- ↑ Wyoming NORML, "Homepage," accessed October 1, 2014
- ↑ Billings Gazette, "Demonstrators want medical marijuana, industrial hemp," May 19, 2014
- ↑ ProCon.org, "25 Legal Medical Marijuana States and DC," June 28, 2016
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