The campaign to repeal adult-use cannabis sales in Arizona is over after the political organizer behind the petition said his “viewpoints on the [industry’s] threat to kids” changed, Capitol Media Services reports.
Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore, launched the petition drive in January over concerns that cannabis retailers were marketing products to children.
“I went into it with a pretty profound belief that it was happening…. I was kind of relying on things that I had seen or read from other people.” — Noble, in the report
Noble said that he has changed his mind after researching the issue for himself. He also acknowledged recent federal policy shifts, including the rescheduling of state-licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III.
“I don’t think that they’re specifically marketing gummies and candies and that kind of thing the way that I was led to believe that they were doing,” he said. “Maybe they’re doing that in other states. But it’s not happening here in Arizona.”
The petition effort would have required 255,949 valid signatures by July to qualify for November ballots. The campaign sought to shutter Arizona’s adult-use cannabis industry but maintain the state’s legalization of cannabis possession and cultivation.
Meanwhile, voters in Massachusetts are set to consider a ballot question this November seeking to repeal that state’s adult-use cannabis industry.
