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Cannabis Ballot Results No Cause For Consternation


https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/cannabis-ballot-results-no-cause-for-7590579/


While some are disappointed that only two of the five state cannabis legalization ballot initiatives passed, I see the results as extremely positive.

I recall the fleeting exhilaration of watching 2016 election returns on state cannabis legalization ballot initiatives, which passed in eight of nine states. Back then, I was watching television and reporting those results to clients. This year, with only two of the five adult use legalization ballot initiatives passing, some in the press and industry were quick to ask whether “cannabis has hit a wall.” That, from my perspective, is an ahistorical and out of context view for several reasons.

Passing cannabis legal reform has been challenging in every state over the last two decades. Yet, continuing the steady pace, the twentieth and twenty-first states – Maryland and Missouri – passed adult use cannabis legalization. Now, half of the US population lives in states that have legalized the sale of cannabis to adults.
Those are the two most populous of the five states with ballot initiatives in this election cycle. Together they have over 12 million people, in contrast to the states were the initiatives did not pass – Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota – with total populations under 5 million. Oklahoma, in the middle of that population range with approximately 4 million people, will vote on cannabis legalization next spring.
Those states voting on cannabis legalization demonstrates continued progress. “Red” states like Missouri even voting for, needless to say passing, full legalization seemed unimaginable just a few years ago, as did Alabama, Mississippi, and South Dakota legalizing medical cannabis.
We are now reaching for the “highest hanging fruit.” That needs to be done in the right way and at the right time. Many viewed the Arkansas initiative as flawed, for example. In addition, we were reaching for the high fruit in a midterm election under a relatively unpopular president. That dynamic usually generates higher turnout for the opposing party, which in this case is the side that more traditionally votes against cannabis reform.
The relative good news was not limited to the ballot initiatives. Democrats holding the governor’s office in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, will likely be important for future legalization efforts. With demand for cannabis and cannabis products and support of legalization remaining robust, a few ballot initiative failures do not represent the reform movement hitting a wall. There are certainly challenges and risks, but these results are not a cause for consternation.