Poll: Southwest North Dakota voters waning on recreational marijuana support

A marijuana legalization measure will appear on the ballot this November, and a southwest North Dakota readers poll conducted throughout the month of July indicates that support for legalizing recreational marijuana on the Western Edge has waned since the measure was last on the ballot.

The poll asked readers, “Secretary of State Al Jaeger announced that North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to legalize recreational marijuana. Do you support the legalization of recreational Marijuana?”

A similarly worded poll in 2018, when the state voted on Measure 3, saw southwestern North Dakotans favor the measure 60% to 40%. Measure 3 would eventually fail at the polls by a vote of 59% to 41%.

The 2022 poll results showed marked change over the intervening years on public perception in the western part of the state on recreational marijuana. Of the votes, 39% voted “Yes, it’s about time,” 18% were apathetic to the measure saying, “I don’t care either way,” and 43% voted “No. I don’t think anyone should be able to recreationally use marijuana.”

The initiative was filed by 2020 Libertarian state Senate candidate Jody Vetter on January 11, 2021. On August 15, Jaeger confirmed the validity of more than 23,000 signatures for the measures — well above the required 15,582 needed for the measure to appear on the ballot.

[Read more at The Dickenson Press]