North Dakota's Measure 3: High time for marijuana?

North Dakota will soon have their chance to vote YES in the upcoming election for Measure 3 which would legalize the use of recreational cannabis for adults 21 and over. While the support for Measure 3 is strong there is also an opposition adamant to stop it with a retort at every turn. One supporting lawmaker compared it to the state's older medical marijuana initiative and says Measure 3 is much better written than the medical marijuana bill was and yet the legislature made the necessary changes to make it work. If passed Measure 3 would enforce the expungement of 179,000 criminal records for cannabis crimes by December 6th. Farmers will also be free to grow hemp and sales tax for the state will be applied to all cannabis sales. Regulators will have to wait and see what must be done if the measure passes but many officials are confident it will be implemented smoothly.

Owen says Measure 3 underwent months of drafting with input from legal counsel, including a public defender, federal attorney and civil practitioner. He balked at Wefald’s criticism of poor drafting.

“We took something that was infinitely worse — as far as how it was written — infinitely worse than the full legalization measure, and we still made it work, and we can do the same thing with this measure,” Becker said.