Upside Down Under: Is recreational marijuana coming?

As many of you know, there’s been a push to have recreational marijuana legalized in North Dakota. In April, supporters submitted a petition to the secretary of state to get it on the November ballot.

Now, supporters need to find 16,000 valid signatures by July 8 to make it happen. Should they get the signatures, we’ll see it on our ballots when we vote in November.

But it doesn’t appear this will be rubberstamped even though medical marijuana is already legal in the state. They’ll most likely get the signatures to get it on the ballot, but in a general election, more people will obviously be opposed.

A statewide measure to legalize marijuana in 2022 failed with 55 percent of voters saying no. The first go-round happened in 2018 and proponents lost by a bigger margin than in 2022.

But this time might be different. The support to legalize has some high-profile people behind it including former Bismarck Mayor and Burleigh County Commissioner Steve Bakken and Fargo attorney Mark Friese who argues that marijuana and hard drugs need to be in two separate categories.

There are many pros and cons regarding this issue and ultimately it will be up to us to decide if North Dakota joins Montana and Minnesota in the legalization of recreational marijuana.

Here are some cons:

1.) In 2018, Saskatchewan legalized recreational marijuana and since that time impaired driving arrests across the province have increased by 30 percent.

2.) When marijuana became legal in Colorado in 2014, sheriffs departments in western Kansas went out of their minds because the marijuana was going to spill across the border. Perhaps, but it was never widespread.

3.) The submitted petition calls for marijuana to remain illegal for persons under 21, just like with liquor. Unfortunately, human nature often dictates otherwise. Unless we can trust ourselves with this, there will be underage users.

4.) If marijuana stays illegal in North Dakota, there’s no regulation on quality control. In other words, illegal marijuana may have additives that have harmful side effects.

5.) Johns Hopkins University reports that people who have mental health issues and use marijuana, psychotic symptoms could be triggered.

Here are some pros:

1.) The state of Colorado has made a fortune on the taxation of marijuana and North Dakota could do the same. Since 2014, Colorado has collected $2 billion in tax revenue. That’s billion, with a “B.” In 2021 alone, it was just short of $500,000.

2.) Taking it out from the underground and regulating it would allow the police to focus in on far more dangerous drugs like meth and fentanyl.

3.) We already know from medical marijuana use there’s benefits to using it for glaucoma, back pain, the pain associated with cancer and others. It is also said to lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation, treats anxiety disorders and prevents seizures. It has also been found to prevent cell growth in cervical cancer patients.

4.) Because the CDC considers smoking marijuana harmful to our lungs, other forms of it would likely surface to lessen the risk of that possibility. They include oils, gummies, and capsules.

5.) Legalization will take illegal dealers out of the picture. Because it would be regulated by the state of North Dakota, purchasing it would be from a trusted source.

There are no doubt benefits and risks to legalizing marijuana. But the bottom line here is if it’s legal and you’re using it on your own property, what’s the harm? It’s when you go out on the road impaired, or you show up at a soccer match higher than a kite, that’s when issues begin to develop.

And yes, marijuana could be legally grown in North Dakota. Industrial hemp has done quite well and other than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), hemp and marijuana are one and the same.

(Marvin Baker is a news writer for the Kenmare News and formerly Foster County Independent.)