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With North Dakota among the states gradually reopening business amid the coronavirus pandemic, there’s renewed hope that a campaign to legalize marijuana could soon proceed after temporarily suspending signature gathering. But because of the setback in signature gathering efforts in recent weeks, activists say it’s more likely that the initiative will appear on the state’s 2022 ballot rather than the one voters will see this November.

Legalize ND, the group behind the measure, said last month that door-to-door signature collection would be put on pause due to the risk of spreading the virus. Many businesses that carried the petition on-site were also shuttered due to state orders and social distancing requirements.

The organization’s proposed initiative would allow adults to purchase and possess up to two ounces of cannabis. Unlike a much more far-reaching proposal the same group pushed in 2018 that included no possession or cultivation limits, which voters rejected, this version would prohibit home growing, impose a 10 percent excise tax and establish a regulatory body to approve licenses for marijuana businesses. Voters previously approved a medical cannabis legalization measure in 2016.

On Monday, the campaign signaled that activities may continue again on a limited basis now that North Dakota has entered into a first phase of reopening, allowing certain businesses to resume operations. Legalize ND is soliciting input from businesses that have their petition available for patrons to sign, though they said they feel “it is too soon” to have petitioners go door-to-door to gather signatures at this point.

“What we’re doing is, the state of North Dakota is in phase one of reopening and we want to make sure that business owners are comfortable carrying the petition in their establishment” before publicizing it for voters, Legalize ND’s David Owen told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Tuesday. “We don’t want to send a bunch of people to a business and for them to get spooked because of COVID or for them to not have the floor space to be able to handle it.”

So far, it seems that vaping retailers and headshops are most willing to allow voters to sign in support of the measure at their locations. Tattoo shops, meanwhile, carry more risks in terms of exposure to open skin and capacity restrictions, so those will likely not host petitions for the time being.

To qualify for the November ballot, activists would have to collect 13,452 valid signatures from registered voters by July 6. But if they don’t make that cut—and organizers say it’s likely it won’t be possible in that timeframe—the signatures they’ve collected so far won’t go to waste. They have a full calendar year from the launch of the campaign to gather the required signatures to appear on the next election cycle.

In this case, that means Legalize ND has until December to meet that requirement and qualify for the July 2022 primary election.

The debate over how and when to let petitioners go door-to-door largely comes down to differences in opinion among board members from rural and urban areas of the state, Owen said.

“North Dakota is weird, right? We have cities and we have rural areas,” he said. “In the super rural areas, it might be as simple as a mask and [santizing pens] every time you hand it to someone. But in, say, Fargo where you’re hitting apartment buildings and you’re going to hundreds of people, well maybe we don’t want to allow that yet.”

“It’s hard to create a one-size-fits-all policy for a state,” he said.

Asked what his message to supporters is during this period of uncertainty, Owen said the campaign is “going to try” to make the November ballot, “but we don’t want to put people’s lives at risk,” and it’s unlikely that they will meet that earlier deadline.

“Our whole thing is about ending people going to prison, our whole point is about ending the dangers of the war on drugs, so it would be irresponsible for us to endanger people while we try to do it,” he said. “Two wrongs don’t make a right. We’re going to try, but [qualifying for November] likely still isn’t in the cards. That just means we have more time to get prepared to push for that 2022 date.”

He added that while some who haven’t signed the petition yet might be compelled to head to businesses to sign it now that the state is reopening, individuals should practice serious caution, especially those who are immunocompromised or otherwise vulnerable.

“If you are someone who hasn’t signed the petition and has issues—whether it be immuno, whether it be caring for someone—please don’t rush out to go sign the petition,” he said. “This is important, it’s not that important. It’s not worth killing yourself over.”

The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a serious and wide-ranging blow to the drug policy reform movement in 2020, with numerous campaigns either closing down or suspending. Several activists have asked for state assistance to help qualify for ballots, but those calls have largely gone unanswered.

• A Montana cannabis legalization campaign that sued the state to allow digital signature collection had their case dismissed last week, but organizers say they may file an appeal and will be pushing ahead despite the legal setback.
• In Arizona, the organizers of a legalization effort are petitioning the state Supreme Court to instruct the secretary of state to allow people to sign cannabis petitions digitally using an existing electronic system that is currently reserved for individual candidates seeking public office.
• A California campaign seeking to amend the state’s cannabis law also asked for a digital petitioning option.
• A campaign to legalize cannabis in Missouri officially gave up its effort for 2020 last month due to signature collection being virtually impossible in the face of social distancing measures.
• Idaho medical cannabis activists announced that they are suspending their ballot campaign, though they are still “focusing on distributing petitions through online download at IdahoCann.co and encouraging every volunteer who has downloaded a petition to get them turned in to their county clerk’s office by mail, regardless of how many signatures they have collected.”
• Activists behind a campaign to legalize medical cannabis in Nebraska are holding out hope that they will qualify and recently unveiled a new strategy amid the pandemic.
• In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) conceded last month that the 2020 legalization push is “effectively over” in the legislature. Coronavirus shifted priorities, and comprehensive cannabis reform seems to have proved too complicated an issue in the short-term.

There have also been several COVID-related developments on the psychedelics reform front as well.

• California activists had hoped to get a measure to legalize psilocybin on the state’s November ballot, but the campaign stalled out amid the coronavirus pandemic.
• Organizers in Oregon are holding out hope that a measure to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic purposes will make the ballot. The campaign already collected enough raw signatures to qualify, though they’ve yet to be validated.
• Also in Oregon, a separate proposed ballot measure would decriminalize possession of all illicit drugs and use existing marijuana tax revenue to fund expanded treatment services. Activists in nearby Washington State are also working on a similar drug decriminalization and treatment measure.
• Washington, D.C. activists behind a psychedelics decriminalization campaign are more confident that they will be able to make the ballot after the District Council voted in favor of a series of changes to signature gathering protocol on Tuesday. The campaign also has a new strategy to test the waters and deliver petitions and mailers directly to voters who could then sign and send them back to their headquarters.

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Former Vice President Joe Biden is using a newly released plan on racial justice to tout his existing modest marijuana reform proposals.

The presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee said he would “decriminalize the use of cannabis and automatically expunge all prior cannabis use convictions” as part of a “Plan For Black America” his campaign released on Monday. He also talked about changing broader criminal justice policies, including ending the crack-versus-cocaine sentencing disparity, repealing mandatory minimums, abolishing the death penalty and diverting people with minor drug convictions to treatment instead of prisons.

While advocates generally welcome the proposals, they argue that they do not go far enough to fully address racial equity. Notably absent from his plan is legalizing marijuana for adult use—something activists say is critical to ensure equity and restorative justice.

“Considering the long violent history of the United States war on communities color, this plan is a half measure at best,” Jason Ortiz, president of the Minority Cannabis Business Association, told Marijuana Moment. “True equity for our communities would include an admission that our federal government committed a massive crime through the war on drugs, and a plan to undue that damage and make our communities whole.”

“True equity must include a release of all cannabis prisoners, massive community investment and a legal cannabis marketplace owned and operated primarily by people of color,” he added. “I’m not convinced Biden is there yet but we must all continue to push him for the sake our communities.”

What’s more, while Biden’s treatment for substance misuse proposal is viewed as superior to incarceration, advocates largely oppose forcing individuals into treatment as a mandate from drug courts, which continue to handle a health issue through a criminal justice lens.

Drug policy reform advocates have widely criticized Biden’s record as a senator, condemning his role in authoring and promoting punitive anti-drug laws that contributed to mass incarceration. And his ongoing opposition to legalization—a policy supported by a majority of his party’s voters, particularly young people—has been a lingering source of frustration.

“Biden’s plan calls for the decriminalization of cannabis and the end of all incarceration for drug abuse,” Ortiz said. “While that flies in stark contrast to the vice president’s record, it is a promising sign that more modern approaches to criminal justice are being discussed and taken seriously by his campaign.”

By comparison, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who was also a top contender as a presidential candidate before dropping out and endorsing Biden last month, has been a strong champion of comprehensive reform, pledging to legalize marijuana in all 50 states on his first day in office through executive action, for example.

While Biden has thus far refused to embrace federal legalization, he and Sanders did announce the formation of a joint criminal justice working group comprised of individuals who’ve worked with both of them, and it stands to reason that cannabis policy could be one area of discussion.

That said, asked last month what issues he thinks Biden will come around to that he campaigned on, Sanders declined to include marijuana legalization in that list.

The former vice president’s new racial justice plan doesn’t feature any new drug policy proposals; rather, it highlights previous measures that have particular relevance to minority communities.

“Today, too many people are incarcerated in the United States—and too many of them are African American,” the plan states. “To build safe and healthy communities, we need to rethink who we’re sending to prison, how we treat those in prison, and how we help them get the health care, education, jobs, and housing they need to successfully rejoin society after they serve their time. As President, Biden will strengthen America’s commitment to justice and reform our criminal justice system.”

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The marijuana reform group NORML is leading an effort to encourage states to deprioritize the enforcement of cannabis criminalization amid the coronavirus pandemic.

So far, more than 4,000 constituents across the country have participated in the organization’s action campaign launched on Wednesday by sending messages to their governors, urging them to take steps to minimize the spread of the virus by avoiding unnecessary marijuana arrests.

NORML created customized email blasts to supporters in all 39 states that have yet to legalize marijuana for adult use. Each one contains a link to a suggested prewritten letter asking the governor to abide by the group’s public health recommendations during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Beyond deprioritizing marijuana enforcement, the organization said states should also drop existing charges for nonviolent cannabis violations “in order to reduce non-essential interactions,” review and release those currently incarcerated for marijuana convictions and waive pending probation requirements for cannabis-related cases.

“Enforcing marijuana prohibition is in itself unfair and unnecessary. Enforcing marijuana prohibition during a global public health crisis, even more so,” Carly Wolf, state policies coordinator at NORML, told Marijuana Moment. “At a time when stress, anxiety, and uncertainty is at an all time high, no one should have the added fear of arrest or expensive fines as a result of low-level possession of a plant during a time when many are experiencing extreme economic hardship.”

“Law enforcement and other correctional personnel are being forced to make physical contact with members of the public solely to enforce an ineffective policy, requiring them to violate social distancing guidelines and in turn detrimentally affect the health and wellbeing of many vulnerable communities. Instead, more common sense, evidence based policies should be put in place to protect the health of everyone, not just some. It’s absolutely essential that state officials deprioritize marijuana enforcement, release those currently serving time for minor possession, and waive and withdraw all pending charges and probation requirements for those solely convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses.”

A memo that the group put out in late March made similar points, and it also made recommendations for legal states on how cannabis businesses can safely operate. It also stressed the need to provide the industry with access to federal coronavirus relief funds and banking services. That memo came after NORML issued advice to consumers about best practices amid the pandemic.

In terms of deprioritization, so far no states where cannabis remains illegal or where only medical cannabis is allowed have taken the measure of formally instructing law enforcement to avoid pursuing marijuana offenses.

“I strongly encourage governors and other state officials to work alongside law enforcement agencies to ensure that these emergency actions are taken immediately to protect public health during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond,” Wolf said.

NORML’s online action page has links to the state-based opportunities to contact governors about reduced cannabis enforcement.

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