Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

Michigan could become one of the next states to legalize cannabis if advocates are successful.

A group called the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol recently announced it had turned in a pro-legalization petition to Michigan’s secretary of state that had over 360,000 signatures on it, which could mean the issue will be on the ballot soon.

Like most states, the initiative would legalize cannabis for adults over the age of 21, and it would still be illegal to smoke cannabis in public spaces. Josh Hovey, communications director for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, told Cannabis News Box he’s optimistic Michigan will soon vote in favor of legalization.

“We’re feeling pretty good about our chances to get on the ballot and give voters a chance to [vote for legalization] in 2018,” Hovey said.

Michigan has had a successful medical cannabis program since 2008, and Hovey said this is the next step. His organization got the state’s approval for the initiative in Spring, and they have been collecting signatures in favor of legalization since May so they can hopefully get the issue on the ballot. Michigan only requires 252,000 signatures for an initiative to get on the ballot.

At this point, there hasn’t been a lot of opposition to the initiative, but that could change now that it’s likely to be put on the ballot.

“We haven’t seen a whole lot of resistance so far,” Hovey said. “We’ve tried to lay as low as possible and just work on getting the signatures collected. I didn’t expect a whole lot of resistance at this stage in the process, but we are assuming, given that we’d be the first state to legalize in the Midwest and that there aren’t a whole lot of other initiatives being talked about for 2018, that we’ll get quite a lot of focus from around the nation.”

Hovey said the prohibition of alcohol didn’t work, and the prohibition of cannabis isn’t working, so it’s time to try something different.

“We believe the prohibition of marijuana has been a massive failure,” he said. “It’s a waste of law enforcement resources, and there’s a better way to go about this.” He said the initiative would “allow responsible adults to do what they’re going to do in their own homes.” It creates a licensing structure that requires businesses to ask for IDs before selling cannabis, and it would penalize businesses that sell to minors. The initiative also creates harsh punishments for those who drive under the influence of cannabis.

We’ll have to wait and see if Michigan puts legalization on the ballot for 2018, but it’s looking quite likely, and that could mean the Midwest will finally have a state with legal social use cannabis. If that happens, it’s possible nearby states will go the same direction.