Wyoming Advocates Launch Ballot Campaigns for Medical Cannabis, Decriminalization

TG Branfalt

3 years ago

Wyoming advocates are submitting signatures today on two cannabis reform initiatives for 2022 ballots, one to legalize medical cannabis and another to decriminalize possession.

Full story continued below.

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Wyoming advocates are circulating two cannabis reform petitions for 2022 ballots—one to legalize medical cannabis and another to decriminalize possession, Fox 13 Now reports. The proposals are expected to be submitted to the secretary of state today.

To get an initiative on ballots during next year’s midterm elections in Wyoming, supporters must get 100 sponsor signatures. If those are validated by the secretary of state’s office, campaigners will have to get nearly 31,000 verified signatures across the state next year. The plan is being backed by the national Libertarian Party in addition to cannabis-focused organizations.

Wyoming lawmakers declined to advance a medical cannabis bill during this year’s session and is just one of six states that has not legalized cannabis in any form, along with Idaho, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina.

Christine Stenquist, the director of Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE) which sponsored Utah’s medical cannabis ballot initiative, is now working in Wyoming on the reforms. She told Fox 13 that while she expects opposition to the reforms in Wyoming, she doesn’t think advocates will “see the same fight.”

“I am not going to leave anything to chance. I’m not going to leave it up to legislators like we did here in Utah. I’m going to move forward on a ballot initiative and give the patients what they deserve. … We don’t have the same stakeholders in Wyoming that you do here. Specifically, the [Latter Day Saints] Church is not the big opponent we’re worried about in Wyoming.”—Stenquist to Fox 13

The Wyoming Medical Association and state law enforcement organizations opposed an attempted medical cannabis legalization initiative in 2016 and attempts to pass the reforms by lawmakers.

A University of Wyoming survey published last year found a supermajority of support for medical cannabis (85%) and decriminalization (75%), while 54% of respondents supported broad legalization.

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