North Dakota Legalize Marijuana and Allow Home Growth Amendment (2022)

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North Dakota Legalize Marijuana and Allow Home Growth Amendment
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Election date
November 8, 2022
Topic
Marijuana
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment
Origin
Citizens

The North Dakota Legalize Marijuana and Allow Home Growth Amendment was not on the ballot in North Dakota as an initiated constitutional amendment on the 2022 primary ballot.

Sponsors reported having collected about 24,000 signatures and decided not to submit the petitions since 26,904 valid signatures were required.[1]

This measure was designed to legalize marijuana use for residents 21 years of age and older and allow a person to possess, grow, process, or transport up to 12 cannabis plants for personal use.[2]

A separate statutory measure was also filed by LegalizeND, which would legalize marijuana in North Dakota. Under the measure, home cultivation would be prohibited and possession would be limited to two ounces and marijuana sales would be taxed at a rate of 10%. That measure can be found here. The campaign had until December 16, 2020, to collect 26,904 valid signatures to qualify the initiative for the 2022 ballot.[3]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The petition title for this initiative would have been as follows:[2]

This initiated measure would add a new section to Article I of the North Dakota Constitution. The new section would provide that it would be lawful for a person to possess, grow, process, or transport 12 cannabis plants for personal use. It would provide that it would be lawful to consume cannabis, provided the cannabis is not consumed openly in public other than as provided by law, and it would be lawful to transfer cannabis as prescribed by law to another person without payment. Additionally, it would require the legislature to prescribe by law a manner to license and regulate the commercial sale of cannabis and would provide that it is unlawful to sell or transfer cannabis to any person under the age of 21 unless for medical purposes as prescribed by law.[4]

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in North Dakota

The state process

In North Dakota, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 4 percent of the population of the state. North Dakota is unique in using the population to determine signature requirements for initiatives and referendums. Petitioners may circulate a petition for one year following the secretary of state's initial approval. The signatures must be submitted at least 120 days prior to the election.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2022 ballot:

  • Signatures: 31,164
  • Deadline: Each initiative has its own signature deadline of one year after it was approved for circulation. The final deadline to submit signatures regardless of a petition's approval date was July 11, 2022.

Once the signatures have been gathered, the secretary of state verifies them using a random sample method. Since North Dakota does not have a voter registration system, the secretary of state may use "questionnaires, postcards, telephone calls, personal interviews, or other accepted information-gathering techniques" to verify the selected signatures.

Details about this initiative

  • The initiative was filed by 2020 Libertarian state Senate candidate Jody Vetter on July 12, 2019. It was approved for signature gathering on July 22, 2019.[5]
  • Sponsors attempted to qualify the measure for the 2020 ballot, but did not submit signatures by the deadline on July 6, 2020. Vetter said the coronavirus pandemic had set the campaign back three months of petitioning.[3]
  • Sponsors reported having collected about 24,000 signatures and decided not to submit the petitions since 26,904 valid signatures were required.[6]

See also

External links

Footnotes