Another push for legalized recreational marijuana in North Dakota
Local group is pushing for legal weed in North Dakota
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — One group is pushing for legalized recreational marijuana in North Dakota.
“The question today is not do you support or do you oppose recreational marijuana, that question will come later. The question today we have is should people have the right to vote on recreational marijuana and I think those are two fundamentally different questions that people don’t understand,” said Dave Owen, campaign manager of New Approach North Dakota
This effort stems all the way back to 2018. It’s a continuation that was inspired by a house bill relating to the personal use of marijuana.
The bill passed the house but never made it into the senate. Both chambers have a Republican majority.
“We thought the people deserved to have a vote on it so we took the bill, made some small strategic changes, we submitted it to the Secretary of State and now we’re approved to start circulating here,” said Owen.
They’re aiming to get the issue on the November ballot.
They will need to get a minimum of 16,000 signatures on their petition but they are aiming to get between 20,000 or 21,000.
“Then we compile them all we submit to the Secretary of State a list of each person who petitioned for us then we drive them to the Secretary of State’s office,” said Owen.
The Secretary of State will review and validate the signatures.
“Since we want to be on the 2022 November ballot, we have until early to mid-July to have our signatures returned to the Secretary of State, and then the Secretary of State 30 days, a month to approve whether or not we have enough that are valid,” said Owen.
This is a nationwide discussion, more and more states are looking at legalizing marijuana.
“It’s important to have the conversation because states are the testing ground for policy, and the state of North Dakota has the power and authority to set policy that works best for its people,” said Owen.
“This is restricted regulated legal marijuana it’s controlled; there’s not going to be a lot of problems with it. We’ve seen every single state that has ever passed a recreational marijuana bill has never attempted to repeal it at the battle box,” said Owen.
