Already authorized in 11 U.S. states, Montana is well on its way to becoming the next to legalize the recreational use of cannabis!
A vote scheduled for 2020.
Montana activists on fire! The New Approach Montana association, which wants legalization in its state, has announced that it has found $3 million to step up its campaign and collect enough signatures for its project.
In Montana, 25,000 signatures from registered voters are required for a project to be submitted to the electoral authorities. Once this has been achieved, a referendum is held, and the citizens vote.
Until now, the main obstacle has been raising enough funds to launch a major campaign to gather as many signatures as possible. This problem has now been solved thanks to the support of the New Approach PAC, a kind of weed lobby based in the US capital which has already succeeded in pushing through legalization in some states. They’ve teamed up with another activist organization, the Marijuana Policy Project – what a program!
With their support, New Approach Montana has secured an envelope ranging from $3 million to $6 million for its campaign.
Very confident, one member of the association declared that he was “convinced that we will be present at the vote” which is expected to take place in 2020.
Despite this optimism, the writing of the bill has yet to be completed. For the moment, all we know is that the aim is to authorize weed for stoners over 21. Once the text has been written, Montana’s political representatives will have to approve it before signatures can be officially collected. This step should be completed by the end of November.
The question of the age of majority remains unresolved.
There is, however, one question that remains to be dealt with by the bill’s advocates and the authorities. Montana, unlike the majority of American states, recognizes the majority of its citizens from the age of 18.
However, the project is aimed at those over 21. To solve this problem, voters will also have to vote for a constitutional amendment to set a legal age of 21 for cannabis consumption. And as this amendment is quite different from legalization (as it touches on a constitutional issue), it’s no longer 25,500 signatures that are required, but double that, i.e. 51,000.
New Approach Montana has until June 2020 to collect these signatures and submit them to the state. Once that’s done, things should move very quickly indeed.
Vincent
