Arizona Puts Recreational Cannabis on the Ballot

Arizona has collected enough signatures to put recreational cannabis on the ballot this November.

According to AZ Central, the campaign to legalize cannabis turned in 258,582 signatures. The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol only needed 150,642 signatures to make it to the ballot, so they far exceeded their goal. Because of this, the issue will almost certainly make it to the ballot, as they likely have plenty of signatures to make up for any that get thrown out.

The pro-cannabis campaigners want recreational cannabis like in Colorado, to be sold in dispensaries, available for consenting adults over the age of 21. They want to shut down the black market and keep cannabis out of the hands of children and drivers.

“For me the issue is really safety,” explained Kathy Inman, executive director of MomForce AZ, a representative of a legalization advocacy group, in an interview with AZ Central. “Regulating marijuana is going to make Arizona a safer place for my daughters and my grandchildren . . . Regulating marijuana takes marijuana off the streets, puts it in a regulated market where it should be.”

However, many still oppose legal cannabis and feel that it would not be beneficial for the community.

“The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act represents the very worst of special interests funding initiatives to promote their own goals,” stated Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery to AZ Central. “The people who will pay for their greed are the families who will lose loved ones to marijuana impaired drivers, teens who will suffer from the effects of high potency marijuana, and businesses who won’t be able to maintain a quality workforce or discipline those who show up high on the job.”

The Secretary of State’s Office will now check and validate the signatures to see of the measure can be put on the ballot. If passed, the legislature will create a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control board which would regulate the “cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation and sale of marijuana” and would establish a 15 percent sales tax that would all go to education and public health. By 2020, it is estimated that a legal Arizona would have generated $27.8 million for schools and healthcare.

If this measure makes it to the ballot and then passes, Arizona could be one of the new hotspots in the country for legal cannabis.