Idaho Lawmakers Advance Resolution to Block Citizens From Voting on Cannabis Legalization
Talk about sign of the times. Idaho lawmakers are taking bold steps toward taking power out of the hands of citizens.
Idaho House lawmakers are asking the people who voted them into office to now give up their voting powers on shaping the state’s public policy on legalizing cannabis, narcotics and “psychoactive” substances.
The state’s representatives voted, 58-10, in the lower chamber on March 5 to pass House Joint Resolution 4, sponsored by Rep. Bruce Skaug, R-Nampa. HJR 4 aims to put a question before voters in 2026 that would ask for their approval to amend the Idaho Constitution.
Although the resolution itself is not a bill that would enact a new law, its intentions are clear: Immediately upon voter approval, only the Legislature “shall have the power and authority to legalize the growing, producing, manufacturing, transporting, selling, delivering, dispensing, administering, prescribing, distributing, possessing or using of marijuana, narcotics or other psychoactive substances.”
Although one lawmaker questioned during this week’s floor session if caffeine—a psychoactive substance—would be impacted, he was informed that the resolution only dealt with substances that are currently prohibited.
In other words, lawmakers are trying to prevent Idahoans from passing citizen-initiated ballot measures that would legalize medical or adult-use cannabis. Idaho is one of eight states in the nation absent of laws for a medical cannabis program, even a highly restrictive one such as in Texas, where THC is capped at 1%.
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