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Here is another question humanity didn’t think to ask just a few weeks ago: How does canvassing work during a global pandemic? It does not, for the most part, as we can see with numerous marijuana legalization campaigns all across America being ground to a halt due to COVID-19.
The year 2020 was setting up to be a historic year for the legalization of marijuana. Every other week seemed to bring good news about one state legalizing cannabidiol (CBD) or another passing a decriminalization bill. The year started with a bang as venues in Illinois started selling pot legally on Jan. 1 and reached record-breaking sales numbers from cannabis enthusiasts from the entire Midwest. Legalization questions might be on the ballot in nearly a dozen states, and several more states, including New Hampshire, New Mexico, Vermont and Virginia, were attempting to legalize it through legislative action. But all of this is now in jeopardy due to the crisis the world is currently facing.
Legalization Effort ‘Effectively Over’ in New York
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is one of the most prominent and outspoken figures in favor of marijuana legalization. He initially promised that he would make legal weed happen in the coming months, and legalizing cannabis is listed as a top priority in his 2020 budget proposal. Now that New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, this top priority fell to the bottom of the list and didn’t make it into the final draft of the state budget.
“Marijuana and the gig economy were two of the more complicated initiatives that we wanted to work through that we didn’t get a chance to do,” Cuomo explained. “Is the session effectively over? It’s up to the legislature, but I think it’s fair to say it’s effectively over.”
He attributes it to the shift in priorities and the scaled-down legislative activity, making it difficult to find the time to work out the kinks of such a proposal: “That requires time to do it right; that is not a yes/no. That's a how does it work, how about the police, how many licenses, who gives out the licenses, how do you do minority empowerment, how do we coordinate with Connecticut and New Jersey. And no one has really had the time to work those things through,” the governor said.
Rethinking Activism
“As a result of the continued coronavirus issue, we are going to have to face a few hard realities going forward,” announced the Legalize North Dakota campaign, which were a few thousand signatures short of qualifying for the November ballot. Even with months to spare to collect the remaining signatures, what appeared to be an easy victory has become exceedingly difficult. “Due to the virus, all of our major avenues for signature collection have been cancelled or indefinitely postponed, and going door to door is not safe for both those knocking and those getting knocked. Businesses will continue to collect, but we don't want to create another vector for the coronavirus. As a result, if something major doesn't change, we will not be able to make the 2020 ballot. Furthermore, there is no avenue to change the rules for signature collecting (online or by mail are currently disallowed) prior to the election.”
A similar situation is arising in Arizona, where the Smart and Safe Arizona campaign is struggling to keep gathering signatures—although they have more signatures than required to appear on the ballot, they haven’t been verified yet and nothing is certain. The same issue is arising: Without in-person campaigning, activists cannot push initiatives while time is of the essence. Political momentum is the key to progress, especially in an election year that will decide whether Donald Trump will be reelected; a proposal that can pass in 2020 might not pass in 2022.
A solution has been proposed, however: allowing digital signatures. In Arizona, four citizen initiatives, including the one for legal marijuana, are asking the state’s Supreme Court to allow the use of existing infrastructure to collect signatures online. Arizona already uses the E-Qual system, which is linked to voter registration records to ensure that all signatures are valid, but its use is only limited to politicians’ nominating petitions.
If this initiative proves fruitful, Arizona’s example could lead to a larger shift in the way America approaches activism in general, finally moving petitions to the online world. In the short term, however, it is the best chance to see legal marijuana on the ballot in November in many states.
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