The 2024 election is barely a week behind us, but it's never too early to start looking ahead, and that's exactly what's happening in Idaho.
The organization Kind Idaho filed a final proposal with the Idaho Secretary of State's Office that would put the question of cannabis legalization on the ballot in 2026.
The group filed the initial petition back in September and previously attempted to legalize medical marijuana in the state in 2022 and 2024. Neither of those efforts made it onto the ballot.
This new petition focuses instead on recreational cannabis, which, if approved, would become legal for personal possession and production. It would not, however, establish a legal marketplace like the one in Washington.
People 21 and older would be exempt from criminal prosecution in the state for personal production — growing their own cannabis — or possession of personal amounts of cannabis under one ounce. Resale would remain prohibited, as would consumption in public.
Idaho is one of just four states where cannabis remains fully illegal.
Once the petition clears the Secretary of State's Office, Kind Idaho will begin gathering signatures and will have until April 2026 to collect just shy of 70,000 valid signatures.
There is also a geographic component to the signature-gathering process, which requires the organizers to record signatures from at least 6% of voters in more than half of the state's legislative districts.
A 2022 poll by the Idaho Statesman showed that 68% of Idahoans support legalizing medical marijuana. Kind Idaho cited a different poll from 2022 that showed 80% support for decriminalization, though only 40% of respondents in that poll favored outright legalization in the framework of a legal marketplace.
Despite the popular support, the Idaho Legislature has been working to increase prohibition in recent years.
In 2021, the Idaho Senate went so far as to pass a constitutional amendment that would have enshrined prohibition in the state, but the amendment ultimately failed in the state House.
Attempts to loosen regulations through the Legislature, such as medical marijuana proposals in 2023 and 2021, often failed to reach the committee stage, let alone go to a floor vote.
Cannabis was on the ballot in four states during last week's election, with legalization efforts failing in the Dakotas and Florida while voters in Nebraska approved a pair of medical marijuana measures. Ohio was the most recent state to legalize recreational cannabis at the ballot box, doing so in 2023.♦
