Is this the last stand for marijuana reform in Idaho?
Not for the first time, marijuana reform will likely be on Idaho ballots next year. What’s different this time is another dueling proposal that could effectively end Idahoans’ ability to ever legalize marijuana through a ballot initiative.
Courthouse News Service | Carson McCullough
BOISE, Idaho (CN) — Cannabis reform in Idaho is at a crossroads. Down one road is the proposed Idaho Medical Cannabis Act, which represents at least the seventh attempt since 2012 to get medical marijuana onto ballots here.
Down the other road is House Joint Resolution 4, a major obstacle to reform and one that will definitely be on ballots next November.
Passed by the Republican-dominated statehouse this year, HJR 4 would amend Idaho’s constitution to give lawmakers the exclusive right to legalize any narcotic. If approved by a simple majority of voters, it would render toothless basically any future cannabis-related citizen’s initiative in the Gem State.
Advocacy group Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho is leading the latest push for marijuana reform. In order to get its proposed measure on the ballot, supporters have until the end of April to gather 71,000 signatures. After starting in November, they’ve so far gotten around 7,000.
As legal medical marijuana becomes increasingly common in the United States and abroad, Amanda Watson, a spokesperson for the alliance, says reformers believe their odds of success are high.
“We do feel confident,” Watson said. Even so, she acknowledges that reform will ultimately depend on support from Idahoans.
“It is not a given,” she said. “We still need people to have a sense of passion in coming out and getting their name on [the petition].”
Other Idahoans are not feeling so optimistic. Alex Johnson would like to see cannabis legalized in the Gem State, but he’s not holding his breath for it.
“It feels like every couple of years, there’s a bunch of headlines saying Idaho is going to finally legalize pot in some way, and then it never happens,” the Boise native and stay-at-home parent said with a shrug in a recent interview. “After a while, it’s hard to get your hopes up.”
Johnson’s pessimism follows years of failed attempts to legalize marijuana here.
Reasons varied with each attempt: Petitions didn’t garner enough signatures, or legalization bills died in committee. Seeds were sown by advocates, but nothing grew.
Back in 2022, Courthouse News reported on this cycle of optimism and dashed hopes (reformers had just failed to get a measure on the 2022 ballot but were looking forward to 2024). Nearly four years later, marijuana laws have not changed in the state, reflecting the intractableness of marijuana policy in some parts of the country, including Idaho.
Even so, supporters of the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act say success is more likely this time, in big part because of how tightly the new measure’s rules are written.
Only three production licenses would be issued initially, with only six retail locations. The program would be limited to people with serious health issues like cancer and chronic pain.
Leaning on the stricter side makes sense, Watson said, given Idaho’s long history as a conservative stomping ground.
“It was important for us to have a conservative approach, because that’s the value system in Idaho,” she said. “People want to make sure they feel comfortable that their way of life isn’t going to change because of a law like this. This is one of those issues that has been very divisive, and we are working hard to bridge that divide with a very conservative approach.”
Reformers are lining behind the measure. Kind Idaho, which helped spearhead prior marijuana legalization efforts, recently suspended its own cannabis decriminalization petition in favor of supporting the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act.
The measure has also found backers in the Republican Party, which dominates Idaho politics. That includes Joe Evans, treasurer of Kind Idaho and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Jim Risch.
Evans was confident that reforms would succeed this time. “By next year after the election, [the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act] will have been on the ballot and it will have passed,” he said. “We will be looking to our legislators to make sure they do the right thing for the people and uphold the vote.”
Even with such support, other Idaho politicos say marijuana reform is unlikely in the state anytime soon.
Take Marco Erickson, Republican state representative and vice chair of the legislature’s Health and Welfare Committee. A supporter of HJR 4, he says Idahoans have made their feelings towards cannabis clear over the years.
“They won’t gather the signatures they need,” he said in a statement, referring to the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act. “They aren’t organized enough. Since I have been a legislator, I believe they tried three times. We will continue our pursuit of the constitutional amendment.”
HJR 4 also faces a tough road ahead. Sweeping constitutional amendments are a big ask from voters, and Evans says this one may alienate even those with some aversion to medical marijuana.
“This is a huge constitutional amendment for Idaho, because it’s literally asking people in the state to deny rights of the citizens and imbue more power to the legislature,” Evans said. “So, they’ve already got an uphill battle.”
The Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho doesn’t have an official position on HJR 4, citing a singular focus on their own ballot measure.
Even so, Watson admits the proposed amendment could be driving a sense of urgency among voters.
“There is definitely voter concern that if this doesn’t get through now, it will be objectively more difficult to get any kind of ballot measure or citizens’ initiative” in the future, Watson said. She noted that “the legislature in Idaho has not, traditionally, had much of a palate at all for cannabis.”
Meanwhile, for the average person in Idaho, there is not as much opposition to marijuana as there once was. A recent poll found nearly 70% support in the state for legalizing medical cannabis, which historically has been an easier sell for U.S. voters than full-on recreational legalization.
“If I was voting on recreational marijuana, no, I don’t think I would vote for it,” said Sherri Hiner, a retiree in the Boise area. “But if it was just for medical, then yes, I think I would.”
Another Boise resident, who asked to remain unnamed, said he regularly traveled to neighboring Oregon to purchase marijuana, which he said he used to treat anxiety and chronic back pain stemming from a car accident.
“How messed up is that?” he said. “Most of the country is living their weed lives out in public, while we need to hide and keep everything hushed up and under the table.”
Regardless of which measures fail or triumph at the polls, he argued lawmakers couldn’t keep cannabis out of the state.
“Marijuana is already here in Idaho,” he said. “It’s in more homes than people think, and it’s not going away. The only question left is how much longer people are going to have to drive out of state to get it."