Of the 30 states that have legalized marijuana, either for medical or recreational purposes, many have legalized it through the regular legislative process, passing bills and/or constitutional amendments within the halls of state legislatures. Others have done so at the ballot box, putting the question to the voters.
Such will be the case with four states in the November 2018 election: as Forbes reports, Missouri, Utah, Michigan, and North Dakota voters will all vote on various marijuana-related issues at the ballot box on November 6.
Missouri
Residents of The Show Me State may soon be showing their medical marijuana cards at dispensary doors if New Approach Missouri gets their way. That’s because the group gathered enough signatures to put Proposition 2 on the November ballot.
In fact, Missouri voters will be voting on each of three different marijuana-related questions, two of which are constitutional amendments and one of which is a simple change in the law. If all three pass, it could create a nightmare for lawmakers in Jefferson City to sort out, and Missouri may wind up with no legal pot at all.
To that end, pot-legalization advocates in Missouri are focusing their efforts on Proposition 2, which would amend the Missouri Constitution to allow doctors to decide which patients need medical marijuana, and adds a four percent sales tax on cannabis products.
Michigan
Michigan already has medical marijuana, and now the voters are being asked if they want to go all-out and simply have legal, recreational pot, like California, Oregon, and seven other states.
The Coalition To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol has put forth a ballot initiative that would, well, regulate marijuana like alcohol. That means that it would be restricted to adults over 21 with photo ID, retailers would have to be licensed, and so on. Polling data showed at one time that 61 percent of Michigan voters supported the initiative.
Utah
The most surprising entry on this list is The Beehive State, where the conservative Mormon culture dominates the legislature to the point where even getting a beer is harder than it is in 49 other states. That may soon change if Utah voters pass a medical marijuana initiative. Though it’s a start, the bill is, by comparison, extremely restrictive. Smoking cannabis would still be illegal, for example, and patients would have to rely on edibles, vaporizers, and similar alternative delivery methods. Similarly, patients would only be able to grow their own cannabis if they live more than 100 miles from a dispensary.
North Dakota
North Dakota, like Michigan, already has medical marijuana, as they have since 2016. However, if the initiative put together by Legalize ND passes, voters in The Roughrider State will have gone from medical to recreational in the span of a couple of years. However, there has been little polling on the initiative, so it’s unclear if it will pass.
