Marijuana Moment: Idaho Medical Marijuana Campaign Collects Over 45,000 Signatures For Ballot Initiative As Poll Shows Strong Voter Support

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An Idaho campaign says it’s collected more than 45,000 signatures to put a medical marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot—and recent polling shows overwhelming majority support for the reform among residents.

The Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho (NMAI) announced on Friday that it’s amassed its signature haul with a team of petitioners deployed throughout the state targeting “high-traffic areas” and public events to meet the threshold for ballot placement.

To make the cut, the campaign needs 70,725 valid signatures from registered voters statewide, including six percent from at least 18 of the state’s 35 legislative districts.

“Idahoans are excited to finally have the chance to bring non-addictive, natural medical treatment alternatives to patients here at home,” Amanda Watson, communications lead for the Natural Medicine Alliance of Idaho, said in a press release. “With Idaho being one of just four states where cannabis is fully illegal, these numbers indicate that voters are ready for change.”

The Idaho Medical Cannabis Act, which NMAI unveiled in October, would provide patients with qualifying conditions access to marijuana from a limited number of dispensaries and provide a regulatory framework for the market.

Here are the main provisions of the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act:

• Health practitioners would be able to recommend medical cannabis to patients with conditions that include, but are not limited to, cancer, anxiety and acute pain.
• Medical marijuana patients or their designated caregiver could purchase up to 113 grams of smokeable cannabis, or 20 grams of THC extract for vaping, per month.
• The state would be start by issuing three vertically integrated cannabis business licenses, after which point it could license up to six total.
• Marijuana would be reclassified under state law as a Schedule II, rather than Schedule I, controlled substance.
• State and local law enforcement would be barred from assisting in federal drug enforcement activities related to the state-legal cannabis program.
• There would be anti-discrimination protections for those who use or sell marijuana in compliance from state law, preventing adverse actions by employers, landlords and educational institutions.
• It does not appear that there would be any equity-centered reforms, nor would the initiative provide for a home grow option.

In addition to the signature update, the campaign also released the results of a statewide poll showing that 83 percent of likely voters back medical cannabis legalization, including 74 percent of Republicans, 95 percent of Democrats and 92 percent of independents.

Asked how they would vote if the current medical cannabis legalization does appear on the November ballot, 76 percent of respondents said “yes.” Of that cohort, 50 percent said they would “definitively” vote yes, and just 21 percent said they’d vote “no.”

The survey involved interviews with 400 likely voters from October 23-26 of last year, with a +/- 4.9 percentage point margin of error.

After the medical cannabis initiative was unveiled last year, a separate campaign that launched in 2024, Kind Idaho, told supporters that it would be suspending its own signature gathering for a ballot initiative to legalize the personal possession and cultivation of marijuana by adults.

Kind Idaho previously introduced medical marijuana ballot measures intended to go before voters in both the 2022 and 2024 elections, but the efforts proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, voters this year will see a different kind of proposal on the ballot: A constitutional amendment that the legislature approved to make it so only lawmakers could legalize marijuana or other controlled substances.

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Legislators separately held a hearing last March to discuss a bill to enact medical cannabis legalization legislatively, but there hasn’t been meaningful action on the issue in the months since.

Separately, a bill from Rep. Bruce Skaug (R) last year would have set a $420 mandatory minimum fine for cannabis possession, removing judges’ discretion to apply lower penalties. Skaug said the bill, which ultimately stalled in committee, would send the message that Idaho is tough on marijuana.

House lawmakers also passed a bill to ban marijuana advertisements, though the Senate later defeated the measure.

Photo courtesy of Brian Shamblen.

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