The Kind Idaho campaign to legalize medical cannabis in the state shut down its effort last month after telling supporters they had not collected enough signatures to make this year’s ballot. The campaign now says it is planning to push for a noncommercial cannabis legalization initiative in 2026 that will prioritize personal use over a regulated marketplace, Marijuana Moment reports.
Campaign treasurer Joe Evans said Kind Idaho’s new plan hopes to avoid many of the issues the campaign has previously encountered while trying to drum up support, including concerns about an overly regulated cannabis industry and patient registries potentially serving as a government watchlist.
Evans said in the report that this year’s petition was a “wall of text” that detailed the program in its entirety, which made it more difficult for volunteers and voters to connect over the issue. The campaign hopes that by keeping the next petition simple and focused on personal freedoms, the issue will finally gain traction in 2026.
“We don’t have to put a burden upon the medical field here in the state of Idaho by making them supervise quantities and qualities and dosages and all of that. We don’t invite the industry — whether medical or recreational marijuana — into the state, because we’re not actually legalizing resale. We’re just saying you can grow your own and you can be in possession of it, as long as you’re not planning on reselling it.” — Evans, via Marijuana Moment
Meanwhile, a 2022 poll found that despite an apparent reluctance to sign a petition calling for medical cannabis legalization, two-thirds of Idaho voters support medical cannabis reforms in general.
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