North Dakota voters may see a “consumer-friendly, but extremely regulated” leisure hashish legalization proposal on their November ballots.
Solely restricted enterprise alternatives could be out there if the poll initiative marketing campaign that submitted preliminary paperwork to the secretary of state on Tuesday is profitable, based on the North Dakota Monitor.
If the petition is authorised for circulation, organizers would wish to gather 16,000 legitimate signatures by July 8 to qualify for the poll.
State voters rejected adult-use legalization in 2022 by a margin of 55%-45%.
Organizers embrace a former mayor of Bismarck, the state’s capital and second-most-populous metropolis, in addition to executives from medical marijuana companies lively in North Dakota.
If handed, the proposed measure would require the state to “implement” gross sales by Oct. 1, 2025, whereas imposing comparatively strict license caps and possession limits, together with
- 18 marijuana shops.
- 7 manufacturing amenities.
There are additionally limits on vertical integration and possession.
Nobody enterprise or particular person can personal:
- A couple of manufacturing facility.
- Greater than 4 shops.
- A couple of retailer inside 20 miles of one other retailer.
The proposal would permit current “registered compassion facilities” at present allotting medical marijuana to transform to grownup use.
New entrants must pay a $5,000 utility payment, plus registration charges of “no extra” than $90,000 for a retailer and $110,000 for a producing facility.
Grownup-use hashish is authorized in bordering Minnesota and Montana.
MMJ gross sales in North Dakota totaled greater than $21.6 million by way of final October, based on Grand Forks radio station KNOX.
In the meantime, the variety of registered sufferers within the state elevated to simply below 10,000 this 12 months, Bismarck TV station KXNET reported, up from 9,596 as of June 30.