AUGUST 26, 2024:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota lawmakers on Friday (Aug. 23, 2024) struggled to pin down the full financial impact of legalizing recreational marijuana, a factor voters will see when they decide a ballot measure on the issue this November.
Key in the discussion between a top legislative panel, the state’s top tax official and the leader of the ballot initiative were what sales tax revenue to estimate and what the full costs of legalization would be, such as social impacts and items state agencies expect to request but the measure doesn’t require. Voters will see the financial estimates on their ballots.
Lawmakers looked to state Tax Commissioner Brian Kroshus, who said the sales tax revenue “does become speculative,” but offered an estimate of $7.281 million every two years based on a 5% sales tax rate.
North Dakota budgets on a two-year basis. The measure doesn’t set a tax rate. That would be up to the Legislature.
Measure leader Steve Bakken presented his group’s estimates for tax revenue, based on data from six other states extrapolated for North Dakota. He cited annual estimates of $19.46 million as an average and $7.65 million as a low.
Ultimately, the panel approved estimates of $10.3 million in revenue, $8.3 million in expenditures and an “undetermined amount” of other costs related to “behavioral health and social impacts.” The revenue estimate includes Kroshus’ number.
Some expenditures drew lawmakers’ scrutiny, such as a one-time $4 million estimated by the state Highway Patrol for oral fluid screening devices to be purchased in the next two-year budget period.
Highway Patrol Maj. Tom Iverson said the agency would anticipate requesting the devices because of an expectation that officers would encounter marijuana usage more often on the roadway, if the measure were to pass.
The Highway Patrol is testing about a dozen of the devices across the state, Iverson said. The devices are similar to a preliminary breath test for alcohol, he said.
Republican Sen. Kyle Davison called the $4 million “just overkill on the fiscal note.” At one point, Republican Rep. Ben Koppelman said, “It feels like we’re packing this to be negative, and I’m not a proponent of this, but we need to be fair.”
Republican Sen. Jerry Klein pointed out that people have likely made up their mind on the measure already, and that revenue is likely not a factor for them.
Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana, most recently Ohio last year. Other states such as Florida and South Dakota will vote on the issue this fall. North Dakota voters rejected previous measures in 2018 and 2022.
Additionally, the panel approved an estimated $3.15 billion two-year cost for the state should voters pass a measure to do away with local property taxes based on assessed value. The measure would require the state to come up with replacement revenue for local governments.
AUGUST 12, 2024:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota voters will decide — again — whether to legalize recreational marijuana in the November 2024 general election. Secretary of State Michael Howe’s office says the ballot initiative from the group New Economic Frontier that would legalize recreational marijuana earned enough signatures. Voters rejected previous measures in 2018 and 2022. In 2021, the Republican-led state House of Representatives passed bills to legalize and tax recreational marijuana, but the GOP-majority Senate defeated them. Other states such as Florida and South Dakota are set to vote on legalizing recreational marijuana in November. Twenty-four states, most recently Ohio last year, have legalized recreational marijuana.
JULY 8, 2024:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Organizers of a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota submitted petition signatures on Monday (July 8, 2024), likely setting up another statewide vote on the issue that voters and state lawmakers have previously defeated.
The New Economic Frontier measure group submitted more than 22,000 signatures, sponsoring committee chairman Steve Bakken said. The initiative needs 15,582 valid signatures to make the Nov. 5, 2024, general election ballot. Secretary of State Michael Howe’s office has until Aug. 12 to review the petition signatures.
Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and former Bismarck mayor, said the measure is an effort to preclude any one from out of state that might be potentially unmanageable.
“A lot of what we don’t want to see is what’s going on in some of the other states, and we think that this is a measure that fits the conservative nature of North Dakota,” Bakken told reporters in an office where Howe’s staff unboxed petitions. Also, law enforcement resources should focus more on opioids and fentanyl, not minor marijuana offenses, he said.
The 20-page statutory measure would legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older to use at their homes and, if permitted, on others’ private property. The measure also outlines numerous production and processing regulations, prohibited uses — such as in public or in vehicles — and would allow home cultivation of plants.
The measure would set maximum purchase and possession amounts of 1 ounce of dried leaves or flowers, 4 grams of a cannabinoid concentrate, 1,500 mg of total THC in the form of a cannabis product and 300 mg of an edible product. It would allow cannabis solutions, capsules, transdermal patches, concentrates, topical and edible products.
Marijuana use by people under 21 is a low-level misdemeanor in North Dakota. Recreational use by anyone older is not a crime — but possessing it is, with penalties varying from an infraction to misdemeanors depending on the amount of marijuana. Delivery of any amount of marijuana is a felony, which can be elevated depending on certain factors, such as if the offense was within 300 feet (91 meters) of a school.
Last year, 4,451 people statewide were charged with use or possession of marijuana, according to North Dakota Courts data requested by The Associated Press.
North Dakota voters previously rejected legalization measures in 2018 and 2022.
In 2021, the Republican-led state House of Representatives passed bills to legalize and tax recreational marijuana, which the GOP-majority Senate defeated. Opponents decried what they called the harmful physiological and societal effects of marijuana.
Voters approved medical marijuana use in 2016. The state-run program has nearly 10,000 active patient cards.
In 2019, the state’s Pardon Advisory Board approved a new process to ease pardons for low-level marijuana offenses. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum granted 100 such pardons from 2019 to 2023, according to his office.
Twenty-four states have legalized recreational marijuana for adults. Ohio did so most recently, by initiative in November 2023. Measures will be on the ballot in Florida and South Dakota in November.
In May 2024, the federal government began a process to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
APRIL 29, 2024:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A North Dakota ballot initiative group can gather signatures to put a proposal legalizing recreational marijuana to a statewide vote in the fall, the state’s top election official said Thursday (April 25, 2024), in the latest legalization effort in the conservative state.
The New Economic Frontier needs to submit 15,582 valid signatures to Secretary of State Michael Howe by July 8, 2024, to make the November general election ballot. Otherwise, the group has one year to gather enough signatures to make the next statewide election.
The 20-page statutory measure would legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older to use at their homes and, if permitted, on others’ private property. The measure also outlines numerous production and processing regulations, prohibited uses — such as in public or in vehicles — and home cultivation of plants.
Leading the initiative is Steve Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and former Bismarck mayor who said he has never smoked marijuana and never will. He said law enforcement resources “should be directed someplace a little more effectual,” such as combating fentanyl and other illicit drugs. He said the group also wants to head off the potential of a poorly crafted initiative.
“If we don’t do something now, we’re going to wind up getting something that is untenable to work with,” Bakken said, adding that he expects the group can gather enough signatures by the July deadline.
Criminal defense attorney Mark Friese, a former Bismarck police officer, also is among the measure’s backers. He said North Dakota is poised to become an island as neighboring states and Canada have legalized marijuana or have similar efforts. Law enforcement resources also are “a big part,” Friese said.
“We spend too many resources, we spend too much money, we criminalize behavior that’s more benign than alcohol consumption, and we have a mental health and true drug crisis going on in our communities, and we’re diverting law enforcement resources away from methamphetamine and fentanyl to make marijuana arrests,” Friese said. “It’s just illogical.”
The measure would set maximum purchase and possession amounts of 1 ounce of dried leaves or flowers, 4 grams of a cannabinoid concentrate, 1,500 mg of total THC in the form of a cannabis product and 300 mg of an edible product. The measure would allow cannabis solutions, capsules, transdermal patches, concentrates, topical and edible products.
Marijuana use by people under 21 is a low-level misdemeanor in the state. Recreational use by anyone older is not a crime. Possession penalties vary from an infraction to differing misdemeanors depending on the amount of marijuana. Delivery of any amount of marijuana is a felony, which can be elevated depending on certain factors, such as if the offense was within 300 feet (91 meters) of a school.
In 2023, 4,451 people statewide were charged with ingestion or possession of marijuana, according to North Dakota Courts data requested by The Associated Press.
North Dakota voters rejected previous legalization measures in 2018 and 2022. In 2021, the Republican-led state House of Representatives passed bills to legalize and tax recreational marijuana, which the GOP-majority Senate defeated.
Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal said she is “firmly against” legalizing recreational marijuana, saying, “I just don’t believe in illicit drugs being legalized.
“It’s kind of like, what else are we going to start legalizing?” Myrdal said. “Other nations have gone and legalized all kinds of wrongdoings and things that are negative for young people, negative for the human body at large, and I just think we’re going in the wrong direction of saying, ‘Oh, well, people are going to do it anyway, so let’s just legalize it.’ That’s a faulty argument to me.”
North Dakota voters approved of medical marijuana in 2016. The state-administered program has nearly 10,000 active patient cards.
In 2019, the state’s Pardon Advisory Board approved a new process to ease pardons for low-level marijuana offenses, through which Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has granted 100 pardons, according to his office.
Twenty-four states have legalized marijuana for adults, most recently in Ohio by initiative in November, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Other legalization efforts are underway in other states. Florida voters will decide a ballot initiative in November. Signature-gathering efforts for similar measures are active in states such as Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, according to NORML.
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