As states continue legalizing recreational marijuana and begin decriminalizing psychoactive drugs, Idaho is one of the last few states without medical marijuana.
It’s not a magic puff, but many studies and a mountain of anecdotal evidence show cannabis’ positive results for people with a wide variety of illnesses.
When Idahoans are ready to approve medical marijuana, citizens should be able to make that change with a ballot initiative.
Rep. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, like most of the Idaho Legislature, seems more concerned with grilling up some red meat for his base instead of collaborating with other legislators to solve real problems.
He introduced a constitutional amendment this week to prevent any “psychoactive drug” that was illegal in 2020 from becoming legal in Idaho. The amendment would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers and a majority of votes in the next general election.
Idaho: the state of personal freedom and liberty, but only as the legislature defines it.
An amendment like this passing would make a citizen initiative to legalize any drug for medicinal or recreational use practically impossible. The initiative process is an important part of our government; if politicians won’t listen to their constituents, they have the power to add a question to the ballot.
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There’s no better example of citizen-led initiatives than the Medicaid expansion a few years ago. We also saw how much this irritated legislators. Instead of taking this as a sign they were out of touch with their voters, legislators forged ahead trying to make initiatives harder to pass. Those efforts didn’t work, so this amendment route must be their next “solution” for a non-existent problem.
There could even be legal issues with this legislation; we know how the legislature loves to pass “helpful” laws resulting in court fights that cost taxpayers a pretty penny.
It’s abundantly clear the legislature doesn’t trust the people of Idaho to make decisions about their own lives. They purport to advance liberty and personal freedom, and then pass legislation that curtails those very things. They hurry to force through their pet projects, but dawdle on school funding and property tax reform.
This also flies in the face of their belief that citizens can be trusted to make important decisions. Most of our legislators from across the state have spoken out against public health measures related to COVID-19, insisting that the citizens of Idaho, as responsible adults, can make those choices for themselves. So we’re allowed to decide if we can wear a mask or not, but we can’t decide if we want to use medical marijuana?
This bill isn’t about addressing real problems that Idahoans face. It’s nothing more than kindling for the fire of partisanship and power struggle.
When, as a state, Idahoans are ready to legalize any drug for any reason, they should be able to with a simple ballot measure. It would, of course, be a whole lot easier if legislators listened to their voters and took appropriate action, but we all know that’s unlikely.
We implore those legislators: knock it off with the pet projects. You have a limited time frame to serve the people of Idaho, and hamstringing future citizens won’t ease anyone’s property tax bill.
