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Election Day is next Monday, November 4. I have plenty of thoughts! Today I’ll stay in my lane, though, and focus on the cannabis state ballot measures.

The voting states this time around include Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. I’m aware of one other jurisdiction is doing work around the edges– namely, Oregon’s Measure 119 on unionization for certain types of cannabis licensees (more on that one here). But today we will focus on the four “new regime” measures.

With cannabis polling so favorably nationwide, you may be wondering why only four states are voting to change the plant’s legal status. I explained in a 2021 post:

Something important to understand about cannabis legalization is that only 21 states allow citizen-approved ballot initiatives. The manner in which Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, etc., first legalized cannabis for medical or adult use simply isn’t available in a majority of states.

See: Cannabis Ballot Measures are a Sucker’s Game: Notes from South Dakota, Mississippi, Nebraska and Florida (“Sucker’s Game”).

Because most states that can legalize cannabis via direct voter action have already done so, we are left with a few “try, try again” jurisdictions. To wit,

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