Because COVID-19 caused major delays in the signature-gathering drive, New Approach Montana — the campaign working to pass two complementary ballot initiatives to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for adults 21 and older in Montana — is in a race against time to qualify the constitutional initiative for the November ballot!

The constitutional measure (CI 118), which would allow the minimum legal age for marijuana to be set at 21, needs just over 50,000 valid signatures to qualify. The statutory measure (SI 190), which would establish a system to regulate and tax marijuana for adults’ use and requires half the number of signatures as required for the constitutional initiative, already has enough signatures to qualify.

While the statutory measure is the actual legalization policy, the constitutional measure sets the legal age at 21. Since voters prefer 21 as the minimum legal age, the campaign must qualify both measures to maximize the chances of victory this November. If CI 118 does not pass, it is very likely that marijuana sales would be delayed by two years. 

Due to signature-gathering challenges caused by the pandemic, the campaign has made it easy to add your signature to the petition effort. If you are a Montana voter, you can download this four-page document, print, sign, and mail it in to the campaign.

The campaign also has petition circulators on the ground, who are following strict health and safety protocols to reduce the risk of spreading COVID. 

MPP staff member and Montana resident Chris Lindsey (right) helping gather signatures. 

Please help us spread the word by sharing this petition link with friends and family in Montana today! 

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Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Sen. Heather Steans introduced bills Wednesday that would finally end cannabis prohibition in Illinois. Identical bills, one introduced in the House and one in the Senate, would allow adults to use, possess, and cultivate limited amounts of cannabis with no penalty, and would set up a taxed and regulated market for cannabis production and sale.

MPP issued the following statement in a press release:

“People are fed up with laws that punish adults for using a substance that is far less harmful than alcohol,” said Chris Lindsey, senior legislative counsel for the Marijuana Policy Project. “The time is right for the Illinois General Assembly to re-examine marijuana prohibition and consider the potential benefits of a thoughtfully crafted regulatory system. The sky has not fallen in the eight states that have made marijuana legal for adults. It’s time for Illinois to move past prohibition and stop missing out on the jobs and revenue other states are already getting.”

If you are an Illinois resident, please urge your state legislators to support HB 2353 and SB 316.

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Ohio has recently seen increased support for allowing adults to choose to consume marijuana, according to Cincinnati.com. Public opinion nationally is at an all time high, with 54% in support of making marijuana legal, and this has prompted many officials, including law enforcement, to reconsider the issue. Chris Lindsey, legislative analyst for MPP, attributes the changing attitudes to Americans viewing marijuana as less dangerous, saying they “realize [marijuana] is a much safer alternative to alcohol. It doesn’t lead to violence and harmful effects.” In addition to this, many view the “war on marijuana” to be futile, including a number of law enforcement officers.

Roger Moore, the Chief of Police in Chillicothe, Ohio, believes that marijuana is like alcohol and should be treated similarly. He believes that in light of the opiate epidemic that many places across America are facing, marijuana offenses are minor at best. Moore says, "I believe it's just like alcohol. Just because you drink beer doesn't mean you drink hard liquor ... Those that do marijuana, they do marijuana. There's plenty of people who don't smoke marijuana who do heroin, ecstasy and cocaine. (Marijuana enforcement) is not what my priority is in Chillicothe, it's heroin."

In Ohio, possession of 99 grams or less is a non-criminal citation, and residents can possess up to seven ounces of marijuana before facing any felony charges. Despite these relatively lenient penalties, prosecuting adults for marijuana in Ohio continues to saddle citizens with unnecessary criminal records at enormous costs in law enforcement time and resources.

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Until now, Chicago has been unable to take advantage of Illinois’s medical marijuana law. However, the Chicago Sun Times reports that the Chicago Joint Committee on Administrative Rules will meet tomorrow to discuss how they would implement the medical marijuana pilot program. If there are no objections in the committee, the process of registering patients, as well as dispensaries and cultivation centers, can begin. Should the committee do this, people with debilitating medical conditions would be able to apply for a registry identification card in September. The medical marijuana distributed would have to be grown in state by law and should be available to patients within four to six months of the start of cultivation.

MPP estimates that at least 10,000 people could qualify as patients in Chicago. Chris Lindsey, one of MPP’s legislative analysts, believes that Illinois will move faster than other states with their medical marijuana program. Lindsey said, “A lot of people now know about medical marijuana. They’ve heard about this in Illinois.” If the committee moves forward without delay, medical marijuana would most likely be available in Chicago by 2015.

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The Department of Public Health recently issued proposed rules that would help establish Illinois’ medical marijuana registry and allow qualifying medical conditions to be added. While there is an official deadline of Friday, February 7 for submitting comments, staffers will continue to review comments that are submitted later.

If you have not yet provided your comments, you may do so by emailing them to [email protected] or by mailing them to:

Division of Medical Cannabis
Illinois Department of Public Health
535 W. Jefferson Street
Springfield, Illinois 62761-0001

ATTN: Rulemaking

The Marijuana Policy Project is concerned about the proposed cost to apply to become a qualifying patient, which is currently $150 for most people. Most state medical marijuana programs run with large surpluses and have a lower registration fee. We believe the fee should be $75. While we were pleased that the health department proposed a reduced fee of $75 for individuals receiving Social Security assistance, even that fee would be excessive. We recommend it be lowered to $25.

In addition, the proposed rules would require the department to provide notice to prospective patients and caregivers that they may lose the right to have firearms. We do not believe this notice is required under state law, nor does it accurately interpret state gun laws. Accordingly, we are asking the department to drop this statement from their proposed rules.

If you are an Illinois resident, please take a moment to review the rules and provide your comments to the department.

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