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Oklahoma officials certified on Monday that activists have collected enough valid signatures to place a marijuana legalization initiative before voters. But the measure may not end up on this November\u2019s ballot as planned, because there are still additional formalities the proposal needs to go through as state deadlines to print voting materials approach.<\/p>\n
Oklahomans for Sensible Marijuana Laws (OSML) turned in what they said were more than enough signatures to qualify the legalization measure last month<\/a>. That has now been confirmed, with the secretary of state\u2019s office certifying that 117,257 of those submissions were valid, exceeding the 94,911 needed to qualify.<\/p>\n The initiative will now go before the state Supreme Court, which will review<\/a> the signature counts and, if it signs off, there will then be a 10-day process in which members of the public can challenge the validity of the petitions.<\/p>\n But Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax said in a June letter that August 29\u2014a week from Monday\u2014is the deadline to formally certify measures for the ballot, according<\/a> to Tulsa World. Even so, officials would need to receive a gubernatorial proclamation of ballot status by no later than 5 PM this Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cThis \u2018practical deadline\u2019 ensures that county election boards have time to prepare ballots to meet the 45-day deadline to send absentee ballots to military voters\u201d overseas, he wrote.<\/p>\n The OSML campaign has asked<\/a> the Supreme Court to ensure that voters will be able to decide on the measure this November, calling the state\u2019s timetable laid out by Ziriax \u201cartificial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe overwhelming number of signatures shows that Oklahomans are ready for sensible marijuana laws,\u201d the campaign said in a Twitter post.<\/p>\n Today, 48 days after we turned in signatures, the OK Secretary of State officially reported that our campaign has over 117,000 valid signatures to place #SQ820<\/a> on the ballot! The overwhelming number of signatures shows that Oklahomans are ready for sensible marijuana laws. pic.twitter.com\/rMuhBKCL8Q<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Yes on 820 Campaign (@YesOn820) August 22, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n While it is typically the responsibility of the secretary of state\u2019s office to conduct signature verification, this year it has outsourced that process to a third-party company, Western Petition Systems, which some observers have said has made the process take longer than usual.<\/p>\n \u201cThis administrative delay was both unexpected and inexplicable,\u201d OSML said in its court filing, according<\/a> to Oklahoma Watch. \u201cAlthough billed as more \u2018modern\u2019 and \u2018efficient,\u2019 the new electronic process was anything but: it ended up taking more than twice as long as the secretary\u2019s hand count in prior years.\u201d<\/p>\n The attorney general\u2019s office last month moved to supply a revised ballot title for the initiative<\/a>, citing several insufficiencies in the one activists had initially proposed. The OSML campaign said it did not plan to contest the changes.<\/p>\n \u2014 Here\u2019s what the initiative<\/a>\u00a0would achieve<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The measure would allow adults 21 and older to purchase and possess up to one ounce of cannabis, grow up to six mature plants and six seedings for personal use. The current Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority would be responsible for regulating the program and issuing cannabis business licenses.<\/p>\n A 15 percent excise tax would be imposed on adult-use marijuana products, with revenue going to an \u201cOklahoma Marijuana Revenue Trust Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n The funds would first cover the cost of administrating the program and the rest would be divided between municipalities where the sales occurred (10 percent), the State Judicial Revolving Fund (10 percent), the general fund (30 percent), public education grants (30 percent) and grants for programs involved in substance misuse treatment and prevention (20 percent).<\/p>\n People serving in prison for activity made legal under the measure could \u201cfile a petition for resentencing, reversal of conviction and dismissal of case, or modification of judgment and sentence.\u201d Those who\u2019ve already served their sentence for such a conviction could also petition the courts for expungement.<\/p>\n OSML, which is being backed by the national New Approach PAC, is one of two citizen efforts to put legalization on the ballot, with another one still in the process of signature gathering for its own pair of complementary initiatives.<\/p>\n The other campaign, Oklahomans for Responsible Cannabis Action (ORCA), tried to challenge the constitutionality of the competing measure<\/a>\u00a0on a single-subject basis, but the Supreme Court rejected the argument in April.<\/p>\n Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) claimed in his State of the State speech earlier this year that voters\u00a0were mislead when they passed an earlier 2018 initiative<\/a>\u00a0to legalize medical marijuana in the state, arguing that the measure may require legislative reform.<\/p>\n The governor said that the ballot question passed by voters \u201cwas misleading, and it has tied our hands as we regulate the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n For his part, state Rep. Scott Fetgatter (R)\u00a0said in an op-ed for Marijuana Moment<\/a>\u00a0that was published in March that states should legalize cannabis, but he wants to see the legislature craft thoughtful regulations for an adult-use program, rather than leave it to voters at the ballot.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, an Oklahoma Senate committee in April\u00a0unanimously approved a House-passed bill<\/a>\u00a0to allow for the cultivation and administration of psilocybin by eligible institutions for research purposes\u2014but the version that senators advanced omits a broader decriminalization provision that had previously been included. The legislation was ultimately not enacted before the end of the session.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the state of play for other drug policy reform ballot measures in 2022:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n North Dakota voters will have the chance to\u00a0decide on marijuana legalization at the ballot<\/a>\u00a0this November, the secretary of state\u2019s office confirmed.<\/p>\n In neighboring South Dakota, a marijuana legalization initiative has\u00a0again qualified for the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Arkansas Supreme Court recently ordered the secretary of state\u2019s office to\u00a0certify a marijuana legalization initiative<\/a>\u00a0for the November ballot\u2014but there\u2019s a chance that the votes will not end up being counted, depending on the final outcome of a pending legal challenge.<\/p>\n Maryland elections officials have finalized the language\u00a0for a marijuana legalization referendum<\/a>\u00a0that lawmakers placed on the November ballot, and have issued a formal summary of the reform proposal.<\/p>\n Missouri\u2019s secretary of state announced earlier this month that\u00a0activists had turned in enough signatures<\/a>\u00a0to put marijuana legalization on the state\u2019s November ballot.<\/p>\n Colorado voters will have the chance to\u00a0decide on a historic ballot initiative<\/a>\u00a0this November to legalize psychedelics and create licensed psilocybin \u201chealing centers\u201d where people can use the substance for therapeutic purposes.<\/p>\n Nebraska\u2019s secretary of state said that activists did not collect enough valid signatures to qualify two medical cannabis initiatives for the ballot<\/a>.<\/p>\n Michigan activists announced in June that they will no longer be pursuing\u00a0a statewide psychedelics legalization ballot initiative<\/a>\u00a0for this year\u2019s election and will instead focus on qualifying the measure to go before voters in 2024.<\/p>\n The campaign behind an effort to decriminalize drugs and expand treatment and recovery services in Washington State said in June that it has\u00a0halted its push to qualify an initiative<\/a>\u00a0for November\u2019s ballot.<\/p>\n While Wyoming activists said earlier this year that\u00a0they made solid progress in collecting signatures<\/a>\u00a0for a pair of ballot initiatives to decriminalize marijuana possession and legalize medical cannabis,\u00a0they didn\u2019t get enough to make the 2022 ballot deadline<\/a>\u00a0and will be aiming for 2024 while simultaneously pushing the legislature to advance reform even sooner.<\/p>\n In March, California activists announced that they\u00a0came up short on collecting enough signatures<\/a>\u00a0to qualify a measure to legalize psilocybin mushrooms for the state\u2019s November ballot, though they aren\u2019t giving up on a future election cycle bid.<\/p>\n An effort to put adult-use legalization on the statewide ballot in Ohio\u00a0fizzled out this year<\/a>, but the campaign did secure a procedural legal win that will allow them to hit the ground running for a planned 2023 reform initiative.<\/p>\n Locally, Ohio voters in at least seven cities will get a chance to join many of their neighboring jurisdictions in\u00a0enacting local marijuana decriminalization<\/a>\u00a0at the ballot this November.<\/p>\n Voters in five Texas cities will also\u00a0vote on local cannabis decriminalization measures<\/a>\u00a0this year.<\/p>\n Advocates have also worked to place local decriminalization ordinances on the ballot in\u00a0West Virginia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wisconsin voters in at least half a dozen cities and counties\u00a0will also be asked on November\u2019s ballot<\/a>\u00a0whether they support legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol. Those Wisconsin advisory questions will be non-binding, however, and are intended to take the temperature of voters and send a message to lawmakers about where their constituents stand.<\/p>\n California Governor Vetoes Bill On Safe Drug Consumption Sites Despite Longtime Support For Harm Reduction<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n The post Oklahoma Officials Say Marijuana Initiative Has Enough Signatures, But It Might Miss This November\u2019s Ballot<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma officials certified on Monday that activists have collected enough valid signatures to place a marijuana legalization initiative before voters. But the measure may not end up on this November\u2019s ballot as planned, because there are still additional formalities the proposal needs to go through as state deadlines to printContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":459,"featured_media":56735,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56734"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/459"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56736,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56734\/revisions\/56736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\nRead More: Oklahoma Officials Say Marijuana Initiative Has Enough Signatures, But It Might Miss This November\u2019s Ballot<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"