An Idaho judge blocked the counting of signatures for a citizen-driven medical cannabis initiative submitted minutes late to the county clerk. Idaho Capital Sun reports. Judge W. Reed Cotten, in his June 18 ruling, rejected the Natural Medicine Alliance’s claims that the Minidoka County Clerk’s Office was open at 5:05 p.m. — when a contractor arrived to deliver the petition signatures.

Days after the contractor gave up the set of signatures, Minidoka County Clerk Tonya Page ruled that the 900 signatures would not be counted, despite the employee accepting them, because they were late. Jeremy Chou, an attorney for the Natural Medicine Alliance asked Page to reconsider, asserting that the contractor showed up at the office minutes before the office closed — not five minutes after. In her letter to Chou, Page disagreed, stating that security camera footage “clearly” showed the contractor arrived five minutes late.

In the ruling, Cotten explained that at 5:05 p.m. an employee of the county clerk’s office opened the front door and told the contractor the office was closed and locked the door. Another employee, who was leaving for the day, answered the door and, according to Cotten, “Fearful of escalating a potentially contentious situation and wanting to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, this employee agreed to receive the petitions but informed the contractor that the petitions would still be late.”

Page told the Sun that the office has “never had this problem before” with ballot signatures and that typically signatures flow, not in large groups.

Despite missing 900 signatures, Amanda Watson, a spokeswoman for the Idaho Natural Medicine Alliance, told the Sun that the organization “received a very significant number of signatures over the required amount” and is “confident” the question will appear on the November ballot.

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Half of Gen Z who have been diagnosed with depression use cannabis, according to a REPORT released last week by precision psychiatry company NeuroKaire. Another 48% of Millennials, 41% of Gen X and 22% of Boomers with a depression diagnosis surveyed also indicated “regular” or “occasional” use of cannabis.

Depressed individuals also used CBD products at higher rates than their non-depressed peers, with 59% more Gen Zs with a diagnosis of depression using CBD products (70% of depressed individuals compared to 44% of Gen Gen), along with 29% more Millennials (62% depressed, 48% Gen Gen), 36% more Gen9, 36% more Gen9, 36% more. Boomers (44% depressed, 26% full generation). Seventy percent of depressed Gen Z indicated they were using CBD products specifically for mental well-being.

“Among depressed Boomers, regular marijuana use hovers around 12%, which seems low compared to Gen Z and Millennials, but that’s 71% more than their non-depressed Boomer peers (7%). That’s the highest relative gap of any generation.” – NeuroKaire, “The Generation of Self-Medication”

In the report, NeuroKaire concludes that cannabis survey data “reveals a population that is actively self-medicating with plant-based substances and is doing so with increasing intent.”

“The prevalence of marijuana use (which can serve multiple purposes) and the use of CBD specifically for mental well-being suggests that Americans with depression are not only using these substances recreationally,” the report states. “They are building treatment regimens outside of the clinical system.”

The report is based on a national survey of 18,341 US adults conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics and analyzed by NeuroKaire. Of that group, 3,737 reported being diagnosed with depression.

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