Marijuana Policy Project

With election season fast approaching, it's no surprise to find marijuana policy reform initiatives popping up on ballots across the country.

In South Dakota this November, voters will consider a medical marijuana initiative, which would protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and jail under state law. After the South Dakota attorney general attempted to thwart the measure by submitting a biased and misleading description of the initiative for the ballot, medical marijuana patient and advocate Valerie Hannah sued the state over the ballot description and won. In his ruling, Judge Max Gors wrote, “The whole impression leads one to believe that the attorney general wants voters to reject the initiative. The attorney general should confine his politicking to the stump and leave his bias out of the ballot statement that is supposed to be objective.” Visit sdmedicalmarijuana.org for more information.

Medical marijuana has also qualified for the ballot in Flint, Michigan. The Flint Coalition for Compassionate Care handed in over 2,000 signatures (only 1,150 valid signatures are needed) for an initiative that will appear on the ballot on the next citywide election after November. The initiative would create a city ordinance protecting medical marijuana patients from criminal penalties within the city limits. Several Michigan cities, including Detroit, Ann Arbor, Ferndale, and Traverse City have already implemented similar ordinances.

“Lowest law enforcement priority” initiatives also have been gaining momentum over the past few years. These initiatives direct officials to put marijuana-related investigations, citations, arrests, seizures, and prosecutions at the bottom of their to-do lists, in favor of investing their time and resources in solving and preventing serious and violent crimes. In California, residents of Santa Barbara (SensibleSantaBarbara.org), Santa Cruz (SensibleSantaCruz.org), and Santa Monica (SensibleSantaMonica.org) will vote on lowest law enforcement priority ballot initiatives this November, and a similar measure has qualified for the ballot in Missoula, Montana. A “lowest law enforcement priority” initiative was proposed in Portland, Oregon, but unfortunately didn't reach the required number of signatures to place it on the ballot. Several cities, including Seattle, Washington; Oakland, California; and West Hollywood, California have already implemented similar initiatives.

And in Nevada this November, voters will decide if they want to remove marijuana from the criminal market and instead regulate its sale, purchase, and possession. If MPP's initiative passes, adults age 21 and up would be permitted to buy and possess up to an ounce of marijuana at licensed retail establishments (not within 500 feet of a school or house of worship). The taxes generated from the sale of regulated marijuana would go toward drug education and treatment programs. For more information or to get involved in this groundbreaking campaign, visit www.regulatemarijuana.org.

And in Colorado, SAFER has qualified a statewide ballot initiative to allow adult possession of an ounce or less of marijuana. The group successfully ran a similar ballot initiative in the city of Denver last year (mostly funded by MPP's grants program).

To find out how to get a marijuana policy reform initiative on your local ballot, visit www.ballot.org.