Wyoming Advocates Launch Medical Cannabis Ballot Initiative

The Wyoming secretary of state has certified the sponsor signatures for a medical cannabis initiative, allowing the campaign to begin the process of getting the issue on 2022 ballots, Fox13 reports. Supporters needed just 100 sponsor signatures but provided 250.

The initiative is backed by the state’s Libertarian Party which can now begin the process of gathering signatures from the state’s registered voters. In all, the campaign needs 41,776 signatures to put the issue to voters. The initiative would legalize medical cannabis, and another being circulated by advocates would decriminalize cannabis for personal use in Wyoming.

The medical cannabis initiative also allows for home-growing by patients.

The Libertarian Party is being joined on the campaign by the cannabis legalization advocacy organization Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE) whose President and founder Christine Stenquist said is “excited to begin the signature-gathering process to let everyone in Wyoming have a voice.”

“The Wyoming advocates behind this effort have worked very hard to draft initiatives that will work for the people of Wyoming.”— Stenquist, in a statement, via Fox13

The ballot initiative campaign comes as state lawmakers have so far failed to pass a medical cannabis bill. Stenquist said she is “not going to leave it up to legislators” as the group did in her home state of Utah. She added that the fight in Wyoming wouldn’t be the “same fight” as in Utah, noting the staunch opposition to the reforms by the Latter day Saints Church.

A 2016 ballot initiative in Wyoming was opposed by law enforcement groups and the Wyoming Medical Association.