2022 Midterm Results & Next Steps: State Ballot Initiatives
The 2022 midterms were not what most pollsters and pundits predicted across candidates or issues nationwide. While federal election results are not final, it is very likely that Republicans will take control of the House by a one to two seat margin for the 2023-2024 legislative session. Meanwhile Democrats have secured enough votes to maintain control of the Senate, with a pending December 6 Georgia runoff to decide the final election contest of the chamber. So how did state cannabis ballot initiatives perform? What is in the cards for cannabis reform in the congressional lame duck session? And what can we expect in 2023? Let’s start with state reform initiatives.
2022 State Cannabis Initiative Results
Since 2014 statewide initiatives or constitutional amendments for cannabis reform have enjoyed wide popularity among voters, with all six initiatives passing in 2020; three of four in 2018; eight of nine in 2016; and three of four in 2014. Voters in 11 states and DC have passed adult-use reforms since 2012 following CO and WA’s lead, with four in the last two years. This year voters in five states – AR, MD, MO, ND, and SD – were offered adult-use reforms to consider, and only two of these measures were successful.
Maryland: Voters support for Question 4 was over 65%, paving the way for state lawmakers to amend and finalize rules for legal market organization and operation in 2023 based on language included in 2022 legislation HB1 & HB 837. HB 837 authorized possession of cannabis flower & concentrates for adults 21+, and included possession limits (1.5 oz), home cultivation (2 plants/adult), and records expungement for some past convictions. Maryland’s legislature reconvenes on January 11 for a four-month session.
Missouri: Show-Me State voters approved Amendment 3 by over 53%, permitting possession and sale of up to 3 oz of cannabis and cannabis products, authorizing home cultivation (6 mature plants, 6 immature plants, 6 clones and 2x that limit per household), and initiating a process for criminal records expungements for past cannabis convictions. The amendment authorizes 144 adult-use business licenses to be distributed by congressional district, taxes sales at 6% and allows local governments to opt-out of business licensing. The new law also extends employment protections to medical cannabis patients that will begin on December 8, 2022.
2023 State Cannabis Reform Activity
Beyond Maryland and Missouri, Rhode Island was also successful in approving adult-use reforms in 2022, and additional reform action is taking place in state capitols across the country in the wake of the midterm elections. This week Kentucky Governor Beshear signed executive orders permitting qualifying state patients to legally possess medical cannabis purchased legally from other states, and Minnesota’s Governor has signaled strong support for enacting adult-use cannabis reforms in 2023 now that Democrats have gained control of the state’s legislature. Newly reelected Wisconsin Governor Evers has indicated that he will again include adult-use reform in his 2023-2025 budget request to the state legislature next year. And Kansas lawmakers will return in 2023 to consider, and likely pass, medical cannabis reforms based on recommendations from a bipartisan and bicameral special legislative committee.
Also considering adult-use reform in 2023 will be Oklahoma’s voters, who will see SQ 820 on their March 7, 2023 ballots authorizing adult-use in the Sooner State. The initiative authorizes adults 21+ to purchase and possess up to 1 ounce of cannabis and grow up to six mature plants and six clones, imposes a 15% excise tax on adult-use sales, and prohibits local governments from imposing bans on cannabis business licensing. Ohio activists are also working to qualify an adult-use imitative for a 2023 vote after a 2022 legal settlement with state legislative leaders.