North Dakota activists say they have collected enough signatures to put a marijuana legalization initiative on the November ballot, and they plan to formally submit the petitions to the state next week.

“After months of hard work and incredible support from the public, we are ready to deliver our collected signatures to the North Dakota State Capitol,” the New Economic Frontier campaign said in an email on Tuesday.

The release did not say how many signatures activists have collected — but they have been reviewing the petitions internally throughout the process. The campaign said it reached the halfway point last month. To get on the ballot in November, they must submit 15,582 valid signatures to the state by Monday, the signature drop-off deadline. That is when the campaign has scheduled its signature drop-off event.

“Once we know the bill is coming to a vote, there will be opportunities to talk about what cannabis can do for North Dakota from a legal and policing perspective,” Steve Bakken, a Burleigh County commissioner and chair of the campaign, told the Minot Daily News. “There are a lot of different aspects to this, and it's critical to give the public the information they need to make their own decision as a voter.”

He added that the intent of the proposal was not to create an “unrestricted recreational law in North Dakota,” but it was nevertheless “very important to us that the state has the ability to regulate, monitor, license [and] tax it as you see fit.”

However, a recent poll suggests the campaign still has a lot of work to do: A majority of likely voters in North Dakota oppose the cannabis measure, while activists are close to collecting enough signatures to pass it.

The poll, conducted by the founder of the independent political action committee Brighter Future Alliance, found that 57 percent of voters oppose cannabis reform, compared to 43 percent who support it.

New Economic Frontier submitted its initiative to the state and officially launched the campaign in April.

Under the legalization measure, adults 21 and older would be able to possess up to one ounce of marijuana flower, four grams of concentrate and 300 milligrams of edibles, which they could purchase at a limited number of licensed dispensaries. Adults would also be able to grow up to three plants for personal use, with a maximum of six plants allowed per household.

The state Department of Health or another agency designated by the legislature would be responsible for regulating the program. Regulators would have to establish rules to implement the law by October 1, 2025.

North Dakota voters rejected an earlier proposal to legalize cannabis at the ballot box two years ago.

The new proposal would limit regulators to approving licenses for up to seven cannabis producers and 18 retailers. There are also provisions designed to prevent the creation of intrastate monopolies, such as limiting licensees to a maximum of four dispensaries.

There are currently eight medical cannabis dispensaries in North Dakota. The initiative requires regulators to develop separate application processes for businesses seeking dual licensing and non-existing businesses seeking to offer recreational cannabis.

Unlike other states where drugs are sold legally, North Dakota's bill does not appear to contain any elements of the criminal justice reform favored by equal rights advocates, such as expungement of criminal records or prioritization of licensing for people harmed by the war on drugs. There also appears to be no indication of a planned tax scheme for the legal sale of drugs.

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In 2021, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed a bill to legalize marijuana, sponsored by Republican Rep. Jason Dockter. However, the bill ultimately failed in the Senate after passing committee.

After that defeat, some senators developed a new plan to move the issue forward by putting it before voters on the ballot in 2022. The measure passed a key committee in 2021 but was also blocked by the Senate.

Over the years, there have been repeated attempts by activists to push for legalization in the Peace Garden State.

Representatives of the independent group North Dakota Cannabis Caucus began collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment legalizing cannabis on the 2022 ballot, but they had not collected enough signatures by the deadline.

New Approach ND had previously led an initiative to put a legalization proposal on the 2018 ballot that voters rejected. They filed another initiative in 2020, but complications in collecting signatures, largely caused by the coronavirus pandemic, got in the way.

North Dakota voters approved a referendum on medical cannabis in 2016.

Last year, the governor of North Dakota signed a law allowing patients in hospice care to self-certify as medical marijuana users.

The North Dakota House of Representatives also passed a resolution last year encouraging residents to purchase U.S. flags made from hemp and produced in the state.

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Photo courtesy of Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.