Taking measure of Measure 3
Medical marijuana supporters get behind recreational measure
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A frustration with North Dakota's delay in implementing medical marijuana prompted some of the support for recreational marijuana expressed at a Minot discussion on Measure 3 Wednesday.
David Owen, Grand Forks, author of the recreational marijuana measure on the Nov. 6 ballot, and Andrew Schultz, a Minot attorney who is running for Ward County state's attorney, spoke and answered questions at a Community Dialogue at Minot State University.
The dialogue drew comments from multiple people who indicated legalization would make medical marijuana more available.
One participant said North Dakota's medical marijuana law doesn't include his illness on the list of qualifying conditions.
"I have to rely on recreational to pass," he said. "If Measure 3 doesn't pass, then people like me are at a standstill because I can't wake up and go throughout the day without my medicine."
He said he has been able to function successfully in life due to marijuana.
"Marijuana helped me so much, so for people to oppose that, that's personal. Because that's my medicine," he said.
A participant from Bottineau said she supports Measure 3.
"My main reason is so that everyone who needs it medically can have it and so that the true war on drugs can truly be fought," she said. "I believe the real war on drugs is with the opioids right now."
Another Bottineau participant, a veteran, told how marijuana helped one of his fellow soldiers overcome an opioid addiction years ago.
"So I ask today if it's just a moral obligation to the people who are ill, to the people who are being persecuted because they smoked a joint way back there. I went and fought for this thing called freedom," he said.
One young woman talked about how marijuana could potentially help her mother's health condition.
"If it was finally passed, maybe my mom and people like her who have medical conditions could finally - naturally - treat themselves," she said.
On the flip side, one Minot resident of the past several years spoke of his past history of drug addiction, which started with marijuana at age 9.
"You are opening up a Pandora's Box for those addicts who think with the disease of addiction that they can try this medical marijuana or recreational," he said. "You think you have an opioid problem here in North Dakota and Minot now, open that Pandora's Box and watch when these addicts start getting high and when they start robbing you."
Owen acknowledged the speaker's personal experience but added peer-reviewed studies don't indicate a danger.
"The science is out there, and the science does show, when you look at peer-reviewed exclusively, that opioid abuse and overdose falls 25 percent and there are no noticeable adverse side effects known yet in regards to physical addiction," he said.
News reports of traffic fatality increases in states that legalized marijuana led one audience member to raise a concern. She noted one report showed a 92 percent increase in marijuana-related fatalities compared to an 8 percent increase in overall fatalities.
"Are we willing that you or your family member be the one - first one - that is going to be a fatality in this state?" she said.
Owen responded the large increase in marijuana-related fatalities reflected a change in reporting method rather than an increase in marijuana incidents. When looking at absolute numbers, traffic fatalities are up in states that legalized marijuana, but per capita, given the population growth, fatalities are not up, he said.
Measure 3 would not only legalize marijuana but would require expungement of records of those previously convicted of offenses that would no longer be illegal. Use by and delivery to those younger than 21 would remain illegal.
"Basically, from the beginning of the time you get that record until the day you die, it is an economic death sentence, which destroys and haunts every opportunity you would have, and as a result, that's why I think, from a criminal justice perspective, we not only need to legalize but stop these countless arrests, but we also need to seal the records so people can move on and move forward in their lives," Owen said.
Schultz said the measure would need some legislative fixes if passed.
"It's not perfect. No matter which side you are on, you have to realize there are technical faults with it," he said.
Schultz said he has concerns about the broad definition of marijuana and the tight timelines for expungement, which could be difficult to meet. He said the faults can be fixed but voters have to trust that their legislators will fix them.