With Montana and South Dakota approving recreational marijuana ballot measures earlier this month and Minnesota’s governor and most Democrats in favor, North Dakota could in a year or so be surrounded by marijuana retail stores.
To the north is Canada, which legalized marijuana nationally.
“I think it shows that it’s not a left-wing or right-wing issue, it’s a commonsense issue,” said David Owen, who led the unsuccessful attempt in 2018 to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota as chairman of Legalize ND.
“People support legalization when they become fully informed,” he said.
Owen said there could possibly be moves in the North Dakota Legislature’s next session that starts in January to at least fully decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana.
If not, he said the troops of supporters will likely try to gather enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot again in 2022. In 2018, after a heated campaign, the measure failed by a 59% to 41% margin.
It likely would have been on the ballot this year, but Owen said because of the coronavirus pandemic and limited crowds and interactions, they didn’t even try to collect the signatures needed.
“There just weren’t any big events where we could gather the signatures,” he said.
As for the Legislature, Republican state Rep. Shannon Roers Jones, who was recently reelected to a second term in her south Fargo district, said she has just begun some discussions with her colleagues about any possible bills concerning the issue in the upcoming session.
Roers Jones said she or possibly someone else may offer some type of bill on marijuana laws.
“I don’t know for sure what the people want,” she said.
She was a leader on a bill passed in the 2019 session that took effect last August reducing penalties from a misdemeanor to an “infraction” for possessing a half-ounce or less of marijuana. The infraction, the lowest criminal penalty in the state, carries the possibility of a fine but eliminates the possibility of jail time. However, fines and the level of crime increase — and jail time is still possible — for possession of larger amounts.
Owen and defense attorney Mark Friese, of Fargo, who both don’t smoke marijuana, said the infraction law still puts possession of a small amount of marijuana on a person’s criminal record.
Although many national websites have North Dakota listed as having decriminalized smaller amounts of possession, they said what took effect last year hasn’t done that.
Friese said municipal courts are also still fining people fairly large amounts of up to $500 for small-possession convictions, while district courts are levying only $100 or $200. The law allows fines of up to $1,000.
Friese said he’s also bothered that law enforcement officers are still searching cars, running drug dogs through apartment buildings and giving tickets to college students who then have to live with a criminal mark on their record for the rest of their lives.
Owen has argued that the major reasons he supports legalization is to prevent problems with housing and job searches for younger residents.
Despite those arguments, there is still opposition to legalization from business groups and health organizations.
Leading the opposition in South Dakota were the Chamber of Commerce, which ran numerous television ads, and health care organizations such as the Avera…
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