Safer Arizona Files Recreational Cannabis Initiative for 2018

Arizona, one of the only major states that did not get voter approval to legalize cannabis in the recent election, has finally announced its plans to try again. With a 51.3 to 48.7 percent vote, Arizonans chose that November wasn’t the time to embrace recreational cannabis. Now, Safer Arizona announced today that it has officially filed a new initiative with the office of the Secretary of State. This time around, volunteers from Safer Arizona must collect 152,000 valid signatures by July 1, 2018.

The initiative, called Safer Arizona Cannabis Legalization Act, would legalize the possession, consumption and transportation of cannabis. It would also solidify regulations regarding taxes and allow consumers to grow up to 48 plants at home. The bill also contains language that would help people who have prior convictions for cannabis-related offenses.

“This is what people are getting at when they go for cannabis legalization,” said Safer Arizona Chairman, Dave Wisniewski. “Everything that has passed so far has been investor driven and doesn’t take on the whole problem.”

In referring to the state’s progress in legalizing medical cannabis, Wisniewski realized that cannabis reform is a slow progress. “We just legalized marijuana out here, and there are still lots of questions within the state about how to enforce those laws,” he said. “It is a dramatic amount of change in a short amount of time. Other places had medicinal legalized for some time before full legalization.”

Of course, there will always be those who oppose cannabis legalization, whether it’s recreational or medical. Wisniewski hopes that this time around, the organization has filed a solid and strong initiative that will be able to convince voters of the many benefits that cannabis can bring. “Prop. 205 was legitimately a very flawed law. There was a large population of cannabis consumers who voted ‘no’ on it,” Wisniewski said. “I don’t believe Arizona voted down Prop. 205 because they didn’t want marijuana.”