Drug Policy Questions on the Ballot Across the US

October 30, 2024

As Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make their final dashes through battleground states, polls show an agonizingly close presidential race. But tens of millions of voters will simultaneously be weighing in on specific drug policy questions. Various jurisdictions will decide whether to legalize marijuana or psychedelics, and whether to decriminalize possession of certain drugs or increase criminal penalties. Others will vote on adjacent policies impacting homelessness, mental health, incarceration, abortion rights and more.

The relationship between voting on such measures and presidential or down-ballot political races is not necessarily straightforward. Examples like Florida voters pulling the lever for both Donald Trump and medical marijuana in 2016, or South Dakota voters doing similarly with adult-use legalization in 2020 (only for courts to overturn their approval), indicate how certain reforms can appeal across party lines. National polling has shown overwhelming majorities of Democrats and independents in favor of marijuana legalization, but a majority of Republican voters, too.

At the same time, measures that strip rights from people who use drugs can pass in places regarded as stereotypically liberal. Witness how San Francisco voters, earlier in 2024, approved an initiative mandating drug tests and coerced treatment for people receiving public benefits.

“It is clear that drug policy reform is a multi-partisan issue that bridges different political ideologies,” Ismail Ali, policy director for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), told Filter in 2020, responding to that year’s successes of cannabis and psychedelic reform measures across the country.

With that in mind, here’s a sample of some of the most important drug policy votes happening on election day, with summaries of what they would do and how the polls stand.

 

Florida

Florida’s Amendment 3 is perhaps the most talked about drug policy ballot this cycle. It would legalize cannabis for adults over age 21, covering possession of up to 3 ounces of flower or 5 grams of concentrate. Existing medical marijuana dispensaries could apply for licenses to open adult-use dispensaries; the state could allow additional businesses to be licensed but would not be required to do so. That’s led to criticisms of the measure from the right and the left as inequitable or “monopolistic.”

Ballot measures in Florida face a high bar: State law requires at least 60 percent support to pass. Legalization advocates know the pain of coming up short. In 2014, 57 percent of voters supported medical marijuana, but it wasn’t legalized. It took until 2016 for that to happen.

Adult-use legalization has faced even more challenges. Advocates put forth two separate measures for the 2022 cycle, but the state Supreme Court killed both efforts, saying they were unconstitutional. The current adult-use measure was almost thrown out again by the courts, after the state’s attorney general sued to stop it. A court decision in April finally cleared the way for voters to decide.

Opponents of the measure include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), Representative Byron Donalds (R) and Senator Rick Scott (R). But significantly, Florida-resident Trump announced in September that he would be voting yes.

With recent polling showing two-thirds of the public supporting Amendment 3, it looks likely to pass.

 

Massachusetts

Another highly consequential ballot question concerns psychedelics. In Massachusetts, Question 4 is being put to voters. If approved, it would allow adults over 21 to possess up to 1 gram of psilocybin, 1 gram of DMT, 18 grams of mescaline or 30 grams of ibogaine. People could also grow psychedelic plants and mushrooms at home, and give away legal quantities to other adults.

The measure also provides for the drugs to be purchased at a licensed facilities, if consumed on-site under trained supervision. It’s similar in some ways to the psychedelic reforms passed by voters in Oregon (Measure 109 in 2020) and Colorado (Proposition 122 in 2022).

Question 4 has been endorsed by the cities of Somerville and Cambridge, as Filter has reported. It has also won backing from Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) and the organization Progressive Massachusetts.

But its approach and funding has attracted certain criticisms even from within the psychedelic community. Other critics have included Dr. Anahita Dua of Massachusetts General Hospital, who argued in an official ballot statement that “A black market is inevitable with this amount of home growth,” and predicted it would lead to more traffic accidents, among other harms.

Recent polling showed the measure on a knife-edge, with 43 percent of residents opposed and 43 percent in favor. Opponents were disproportionately drawn from high-turnout groups like older voters, which poll director Tatishe Nteta said “does not bode well” for people hoping Massachusetts will become the third state to legalize psychedelics.

 

North Dakota

After a statewide petition campaign, North Dakota marijuana advocates succeeded in putting adult-use legalization on the November ballot. If approved, Measure 5 will legalize cannabis for adults over 21, covering possession of up to 1 ounce of flower, 4 grams of concentrate and 300 milligrams of edibles. Adults could grow up to three plants at home.

The state would license seven manufacturers and 18 dispensaries; the rules would prohibit one business from owning more than four dispensaries.

As Marijuana Moment has reported, the ballot measure contains no additional criminal-legal remedies—such as expunging old marijuana convictions and freeing people still incarcerated for marijuana—and no social-justice provisions, such as favoring formerly incarcerated people in business license applications, or reinvesting cannabis taxes in disadvantaged communities.

In the summer, polling showed a majority of voters opposing the measure, but that seems to have changed in recent weeks. A poll in early October found 45 percent in favor, 40 percent opposed and 15 percent still undecided.

 

South Dakota

South Dakota activists also succeeded in putting adult-use legalization on the ballot—again. Voters there already approved legalization in 2020, only to see the result invalidated by the South Dakota Supreme Court, which ruled in 2021 that the ballot question had been too broad to meet state rules.

The current effort, Measure 29, would legalize cannabis for adults over 21, covering possession of up to 2 ounces of flower and six plants grown at home. There are no further details on how marijuana would be regulated and taxed, how many and what kind of business licenses would be issued, or any further criminal-legal provisions. Advocates deliberately wrote the measure in such a narrow way in the belief this could help it to withstand another court challenge.

An October poll found that 50 percent of voters opposed it and 45 percent supported it, with 5 percent undecided.

 

Nebraska

Nebraska voters will weigh in on medical marijuana legalization. Two separate initiatives, 437 and 438, would together legalize up to 5 ounces of cannabis for medical use if recommended by a doctor, and create a regulated market with licensed medical marijuana businesses.

However, legal landmines may await in the Cornhusker State. Separate lawsuits filed by state Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) and John Kuehn, a former state senator (R), could block medical legalization even if voters approve it. The AG’s suit centers on allegations that one of the marijuana petitioners who collected voter signatures did so fraudulently; the person is now facing felony charges. Kuehn’s claim is that the initiatives are unconstitutional under state law and illegal under federal law.

Regardless, recent polling has show 59 percent support for medical marijuana among Nebraska voters.

 

Other States

Oregon was among the first states to legalize cannabis for adult use, in 2014. But voters there will now decide on a different marijuana-related question: Should cannabis-industry workers be given more labor union protections? If passed, Measure 119 would require licensed cannabis businesses to sign “labor peace” agreements—basically a promise that if labor unions try to organize employees, the employer will remain neutral. It’s an issue with growing prominence as more legal cannabis industry workplaces choose to unionize.

Meanwhile in Texas, voters in three cities—Dallas, Lockhart and Bastropare—are considering measures to decriminalize possession of cannabis. Texas as a state allows only very restricted medical access to low-THC cannabis products, with no smoking allowed.

Two other statewide ballots would meanwhile increase penalties for certain drug charges. In California, Proposition 36 would roll back a decade-old reform that reclassified most drug possession and shoplifting charges as misdemeanors rather than felonies. The current measure would make those felonies again, and additionally create a new category of a “treatment mandated felony.” This would mean a person who uses drugs could be threatened with prison for a third charge unless they agree to go to a mandated drug treatment program.

Besides ethical and practical objections to coerced treatment, estimates suggest that Prop. 36 could increase California’s prison population by anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands. Polling suggests it is very likely to pass, showing 73 percent in support.

Finally, Arizona voters will decide on Proposition 314, put on the ballot by state lawmakers. This would create a number of new crimes with which undocumented migrants can be charged, including if they apply for jobs or public benefits. It would also create a specific new crime of “selling fentanyl that causes the death of a person” if you are undocumented.

 


 

Photograph by Kārlis Dambrāns via Flickr/Creative Commons 2.0

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Alexander Lekhtman

Alexander is Filter's staff writer. He writes about the movement to end the War on Drugs. He grew up in New Jersey and swears it's actually alright. He's also a musician hoping to change the world through the power of ledger lines and legislation. Alexander was previously Filter's editorial fellow.