Marijuana legalization and enforcement were once again on the ballot Tuesday, with voters in two states and one major Texas city weighing measures that could change marijuana policy.
In Massachusetts, voters rejected an effort to roll back recreational marijuana legalization. Question 8 would have repealed the state’s legal recreational cannabis production and sales, which voters approved in 2016. About 75% of voters opposed the measure, allowing the state’s recreational marijuana market to remain in place.
In Idaho, voters rejected House Joint Resolution 4, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given the state Legislature exclusive authority to decide whether to legalize marijuana or other psychoactive substances. If approved, the amendment would have prevented citizens from using ballot initiatives to legalize those substances.
Nearly two-thirds of voters, or 66%, rejected the measure. About 34% supported it.
In Houston, Texas, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition A, directing the police department to make misdemeanor marijuana possession its lowest law-enforcement priority. More than 70% of voters supported the measure.
The proposition was placed on the ballot after political advocacy group Ground Game Texas gathered more than 40,000 petition signatures. It amends the city charter to require the Houston Police Department to make enforcement of Class A and Class B misdemeanor marijuana possession its lowest priority. It also prohibits officers from requesting or executing no-knock search warrants.
The measure is similar to marijuana enforcement policies approved in other Texas cities, including San Marcos and Dallas. Those measures have faced legal challenges from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
