Thor Benson / Cannabis News Box Contributor

A ballot initiative in North Dakota that would legalize cannabis for adults 21 and over appears to have enough support in the state to pass next month. A recent poll shows Measure 3 with 51 percent support and 36 percent opposing. This is yet another example of support for legalization growing in a very conservative state.

“The most recent polling shows a slim majority of likely voters intend to vote for Measure 3, so it is possible that North Dakota will vote to end marijuana criminalization this November 6th,” Justin Strekal, political director at NORML, told Cannabis News Box. Strekal said those opposing legalization have been leading a misinformation campaign, but it appears the citizens of North Dakota know better.

“The main opposition group has been attempting to distort the effects of marijuana regulation and using fear tactics to scare voters into maintaining the status-quo of criminalization,” Strekal said.

Despite the opposition arguing that legalization will bring crime and harm public health, it seems clear to many that legalization would actually have little effect in a state like North Dakota. That’s because it’s a state where relatively few people care for cannabis. However, tons of resources have been wasted pursuing cannabis-related crimes.

“North Dakota ranks among the lowest states (41st) in marijuana use,” Strekal said. “According to FBI crime data, [it] ranks a whopping 6th per capita nationally in number of arrests for marijuana-related offenses.”

Few people in North Dakota are actually purchasing cannabis, yet the state is wasting a lot of money trying to arrest people over cannabis.

David Owen, a 25-year-old college student who got the initiative on the ballot, says that he sees this as a personal freedom issue. “Voting yes on this is not saying you want to use marijuana. It says you want these horrible prohibition policies to end,” he told U.S News and World Report.

“If it passes in North Dakota, where Donald Trump got 63 percent of the vote, what we’ve proven is this is not a conservative issue, this is not a liberal issue, this is an issue people want fixed. It will make Republicans much more open to supporting it who are on the fence in other states,” Owen says.

Though North Dakotans passed a medical cannabis initiative in 2016, Republicans put so many restrictions on the program after it passed that it was nearly useless. Owen is hoping fully legalizing cannabis will mean people who want or need it will actually have access.