Cannabis related initiatives were on the ballots of four states in last week’s elections. Now the dust is starting to settle, here’s what happened.
In Florida, legalising recreational marijuana use was on the ballot and while it achieved a majority of votes, it won’t make it over the line due to a 60% supermajority requirement (~55.89% voted yes).
North Dakota’s recreational marijuana legalisation initiative needed at least 50% of votes, but it failed to reach the threshold (~52.55% voted no).
South Dakota’s marijuana initiative that would legalize recreational use for people age 21 and older did not pass (~55.5% voted no).
Commenting on the defeats, NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano said:
“Every movement suffers temporary setbacks. But our consistent upward trajectory is undeniable. Public support for legalization has risen 20 percentage points in the past decade and now sits at 68 percent nationwide.”
In Nebraska, it was a different story. Nebraska’s medical cannabis initiatives passed (~70.74% voted yes), but due to legal challenges concerning signatures collected to get those measures on the ballot, it remains to be seen if the program will proceed. Still, the result clearly show Nebraskans overwhelmingly support legalising medical cannabis; something the state’s lawmakers should take note of.
One other development of note was in Kentucky; where part of the new system for medical cannabis allowed local governments to make decisions as to whether related businesses could be established within their jurisdictions – or put that decision in front of voters. In 106 cities and counties, it was put to a vote – and in all 106, voters approved medical cannabis businesses operating in their communities.
“We saw overwhelming support at the polls for our new system of medical cannabis,” Beshear said. “In every single place that medical cannabis was put on the ballot, it won; meaning citizens of every part of Kentucky said that it is time and they want to see this option in their community.”
As for the way forward now for cannabis in the USA under Trump and at a federal level; in September the now President-elect said he believes it’s time to end “needless arrests and incarcerations of adults” for possessing small amounts of marijuana for personal use. He also seemed to indicate support for rescheduling after a Biden-directed review of the scheduling of cannabis resulted in a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommendation it be changed from Schedule I to the less restrictive Schedule 3.
But that was in September, and this is Donald Trump.
The final DEA decision on rescheduling isn’t expected until after the next president is sworn in; which will occur on January 20, 2025.
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