Supporters of a statutory initiative that would legalize adult recreational cannabis use in North Dakota submitted more than 22,000 signatures on Monday to the state in hopes of getting the initiative on the November ballot.
Steve Bakken, a current member of the Burleigh County Commission and former mayor of Bismarck, speaks with reporters about why he supports an initiated measure legalizing recreational marijuana. Bakken and others delivered petitions containing signatures of a reported 22,444 eligible voters to the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office on Monday, July 8, 2024. The signatures must be verified by mid-August in order for the question to appear on the November ballot.
BRAD NYGAARD
Initiative chair Steve Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and former Bismarck mayor, said the group submitted 22,444 signatures, exceeding the required 15,582 signatures to qualify for the ballot. The state now has until Aug. 12 to verify signatures and rule on the initiative’s qualification. Monday was the deadline for November ballot access.
The initiative looks to legalize recreational marijuana use for residents 21 and older while at their own homes or where permitted on others’ private property. It also outlines a series of restrictions on production, home growth of cannabis plants and locations for use.
It’s the third citizen-led attempt to legalize marijuana in North Dakota: Two ballot measures, in 2018 and 2022, were opposed by 59% and 55% of voters who weighed in, respectively. Medical cannabis use was legalized by voters in 2016 through the initiated measure process, garnering nearly 64% of the vote. The state House of Representatives in 2021 passed bills that would have legalized and taxed the drug, but the state Senate shot them down.
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Bakken told reporters on Monday that the latest effort to legalize marijuana in North Dakota is an attempt to get ahead of out-of-state efforts to legalize the drug, which has been approved for adult recreational use in 24 states. He said he thought it was important that any measure passed would be in line with the state’s conservative values, citing some of the restrictions that are more stringent than those implemented in many states where the drug is legal.
“At some point it’s going to pass, and I’ve lived in Washington and Oregon and spent a lot of time working in Colorado and California and I don’t like what’s going on in those states,” he said. “What I see us being able to do in North Dakota is something that’s conservative, but meets those that want to partake in recreational marijuana use.”
Ofelia Baumgartner and Lee Ann Oliver from the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office sort through petitions received from supporters of an initiated measure to legalize recreation marijuana. Measure supporter Steve Bakken, right, said proponents of the measure delivered 22,444 signatures in the hopes of putting the question before voters during the November general election.
BRAD NYGAARD
Bakken also said the measure, if passed, would reduce the burden of marijuana offenses on the state’s law enforcement system. Cannabis use by those under 21 in the state is a low-level misdemeanor, while recreational use by those older has been decriminalized, and possession penalties vary based on quantity. Last year, 4,451 people statewide were charged with use or possession of marijuana, according to North Dakota Courts data requested by The Associated Press.
The initiative would allow adults over 21 to purchase and possess up to one ounce of dried leaves or flowers, four grams of a cannabinoid concentrate, 300 mg of edible products and 1,500 mg of total THC in the form of a cannabis product. Residents can also grow their own marijuana, but may not possess more than three plants per person or six plants per household.
The state Health and Human Services Department, or another body decided by the state Legislature, will be responsible for implementing regulatory practices by Oct. 1, 2025, if the initiative makes the ballot and passes. The proposal also limits the operations of marijuana retailers in the state, capping the industry at seven manufacturers and 18 retailers, with licensees limited to four dispensaries at most. The application process for recreational licenses would also have to be separated from the process that has allowed for the creation of the state’s eight medical marijuana dispensaries.
Supporters of a ballot measure that would modify the state constitution to eliminate property tax based on assessed value also submitted signatures in late June in hopes of making it on the November ballot. The group submitted more than 40,000 signatures, far exceeding the 31,164 valid signatures needed to qualify, and the state is reviewing the petitions.
Backers of a ballot measure that would overhaul the state’s voting process did not submit signatures, though initiative chair Lydia Gessele told the Tribune in February that the group was attempting to qualify for the November ballot. Gessele declined a request for further comment. Supporters can continue to circulate petitions until Sept. 27, one year after the petition was approved for circulation, in hopes of qualifying for the June 2026 primary election.
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