Connect with us

Cannabis News

Idaho Medical Marijuana Campaign Has More Than 100,000 Signatures For Legalization Ballot Measure As Deadline Nears

Published

1 month ago

on

Supporters of A He proposed a medical cannabis ballot initiative in Idaho he said they have collected more than 100,000 signatures and are making a final push to qualify the proposal for the November general election ballot by April 30.

A group called the Idaho Natural Medicine Alliance hopes to legalize medical cannabis as a treatment option for Idahoans with debilitating illnesses such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, AIDS, epilepsy, Crohn’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease.

Under Idaho law, cannabis means the same thing as marijuana, and the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Currently, all forms of cannabis are illegal in Idaho, but recreational marijuana or medical cannabis is available in every state bordering Idaho except Wyoming.

Supporters said they want to legalize medical cannabis to give people with serious illnesses and chronic pain an alternative to opioid medications.

“Hundreds of people have emailed us about how they have PTSD or epilepsy and they’re driving across the border and illegally buying gummy bears because they want some dignity in their custody, in their state, but they can’t get it, and they’re still getting these things because they’re there and they’re available,” said Amanda Bomanise Wason of the initiative. “This framework includes a very strong regulatory, limited access and medical program.”

Opposition is leading the Republican-controlled Idaho Legislature, which is pushing a competitive marijuana measure on the November ballot and urging voters to reject the medical cannabis ballot initiative.

“Idaho’s Medical Cannabis Act is not guaranteed to the extent that it would effectively legalize the widespread recreational use of marijuana,” Idaho lawmakers warned in a resolution passed earlier this month.

Who’s behind Idaho’s medical cannabis ballot initiative?

Rob Cronin, a Sun Valley businessman who has opened several restaurants in Idaho and across the country, is president and treasurer of the Natural Medicine Alliance PAC.

In an interview last week, Cronin said his experience as a cancer survivor and his friendship with the late Dr. Dori Tunney, a physician and philanthropist, inspired him to push the medical cannabis ballot initiative.

Tunnery was diagnosed with glioblastoma and treated his pain with opioids, which led to severe side effects, reduced appetite and severe physical decline, Cronin and Watson said.

In treatment in California, where cannabis is legal, Tunney tried medical cannabis jelly and Cronin and Watson said his appetite and sleep returned to normal and his pain decreased.

Cronin and Watson said Tunney began advocating for the legalization of medical cannabis in Idaho in 2022, a push he continued until his death in 2024.

Cronin said she also experienced serious side effects when she used opioids after surgery after cancer treatment. Cronin said today he weighs 175 pounds, but his weight has dropped to 119 pounds due to nausea, loss of appetite and sleep loss caused by opioids.

“The pain was excruciating and I was hammering the Vicodin like it was going to go out of style,” Cronin said. “I can say in my head all day that I would choose an alternative to opioids over cannabis, because opioids put you on that funky roller coaster of, ‘Oh, I feel better. Oh, I’m depressed, and my life is bad. Oww, now I’m in pain. Another opioid. Oh, I’m depressed again and my life is bad.’ It really messes with your head.”

Cronin and Watson said they met while volunteering with Tunney to help cancer patients in Idaho. Cronin and Watson said they support the measure to try to finish Tunney’s job before the Idaho Legislature tries to further curtail the ability of voters to legalize medical cannabis in Idaho.

Watson said most of the funding for the initiative comes from an investment in Double Springs Ranch, owned by Tunney and her husband. The ranch is located in central Idaho and produces hemp and hemp fiber and raises Black Angus cattle.

What is a ballot initiative and what will it take to get medical cannabis on the November ballot?

In Idaho, a ballot initiative is a form of direct democracy in which Idaho voters—not the Idaho Legislature—vote on whether to pass a bill.

Organizers say they are taking the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act to voters as a ballot initiative because the Idaho Legislature has not taken action to legalize medical cannabis.

All states surrounding Idaho other than Wyoming offer medical cannabis, such as Utah, or recreational marijuana, such as Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Nevada.

To qualify for the November general election, organizers must collect signatures from 6 percent of registered voters statewide, or 70,725 valid signatures. In addition to the total gross, organizers must also collect signatures from 6 percent of registered voters in at least 18 of Idaho’s 35 legislative districts.

The period for verifying the signatures of the State will end on April 30.

“I would say we’re cautiously optimistic,” Watson said Friday. “Right now, we’re collecting thousands of signatures a day to make sure we cross that threshold every legislative session. There are some rural areas in Idaho where we’re working really hard to get that 6 percent. Right now, we’ve collected over 100,000 raw signatures.”

The Idaho Natural Medicine Alliance is using paid signature gatherers in an effort to qualify the initiative for election. The alliance pays $25 an hour plus incentives, Watson said.

If the initiative qualifies for the November general election, it would need a simple majority of votes to pass.

Why is the Idaho Legislature against cannabis?

If the Idaho Medical Cannabis Act makes it to the ballot, there would be marijuana-related questions on the November ballot.

The Idaho Legislature has already come out against medical cannabis and placed an amendment to the Idaho Constitution on the November ballot. If approved by a majority of voters, it would be House Resolution 4 make it so that only the Idaho Legislature, not the voters, can legalize marijuana or other narcotics.

“Too many legislatures in this nation have sat and waited for initiative after initiative to come after them until they finally get overwhelmed and pass the legislature,” Sen. Scott Grow, R-Eagle, said last year. “We are acting because that is our responsibility.”

In the 2025 legislative session, the Idaho Legislature and Gov. Brad Little (R) passed a law that creates a mandatory minimum fine of $300 for anyone convicted of simple possession of marijuana, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

This year, the Idaho Legislature also passed Senate Resolution 127, which encourages Idaho voters to reject a medical cannabis ballot initiative.

In the resolution, lawmakers warn that legalizing marijuana and medical cannabis has created problems for other states and would increase the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s budget and costs at a time when state revenues are uncertain.

Idaho lawmakers have also complained that the requirements for obtaining a cannabis medical card would be so low that almost anyone would be able to obtain one.

“The 18 medical conditions to qualify for a cannabis license, including insomnia, anxiety and acute pain, are so broad that almost anyone can qualify,” Idaho lawmakers wrote.

On Thursday, Idaho Secretary of State officials said 10,232 signatures have been submitted so far, and the office has deemed 4,698 of those signatures valid.

How would Idaho’s Medical Cannabis Act work?

Here’s how Idaho’s Medical Cannabis Act would work for the November election if a majority of Idaho voters pass the act.

  • Idahoans would be able to apply for a renewable cannabis medical card by submitting medical records showing a significant or terminal health condition such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, MS, post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain.
  • Meanwhile, the state would initially issue three medical cannabis production licenses statewide, allowing a licensee to grow, produce, distribute and sell medical cannabis to people with a valid Idaho cannabis license. When Idaho’s population increases by 650,000, additional production licenses could be issued, bringing the total to six in the state. The production license application process requires a valid Idaho hemp license in good standing, submission of an operational plan, background checks and the use of a supervising pharmacist.
  • This law allows each licensee to operate up to six retail locations, two facility locations, a fulfillment center, a warehouse, and a distribution center.
  • For individuals with an Idaho medical cannabis card, online ordering, delivery and pickup at distribution centers would be permitted.
  • Using medical cannabis in public and sharing medical cannabis with someone who does not have an Idaho cannabis card would be prohibited by law in Idaho. It would also be illegal to drive, operate a ship, operate aircraft, operate heavy machinery or drive a train under the influence of medical cannabis.

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Cannabis News

Bountiful Farms goes best in New England at NECANN Cup

Published

14 hours ago

on

May 25, 2026

By

Bountiful Farms placed first and second in the licensed solvent-free concentrate division at this year’s NECANN Cup, then also won the mixed licensed and unlicensed division to win best overall, putting the Massachusetts operator in the running for best in show with the highest-scoring product in New England.

© Bountiful Farms

NECANN is the largest B2B cannabis event in New England and the second largest in the country, attracting over 9,000 attendees. Everything is unbranded. Licensed and unlicensed operators in the six New England states compete only in product. Zachary Taylor, Director of Agriculture at Bountiful Farms, says the win for Maine’s craft growers means a lot to him and his team. “Whenever you compete against Maine, with its regulations and the craft culture of the caretakers, to be considered a craft on our scale is the greatest honor. When you look at cups across the nation, you see cups of culture, and Maine is always well represented. To be recognized on the same playing field and to excel at this scale is very difficult, and I don’t think that’s what people mean.”

Of course, rosin isn’t given more forcefully to Bountiful Farms. But Zach in a clean way© Bountiful Farms he says, “A good raisin doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It comes from the flower.” The award-winning genetics were bred by Crystal Rose, and built around a high-resin, terpene-rich expression.

“The buds come in within 15 minutes of harvest, it’s like a timer,” Zach says. “Then we move them to a chest freezer, before moving them to an aisle freezer, where they’ll sit until they’re cleaned. All the rosin is pressed by hand in a hydraulic press.” At its scale, Bountiful Farms must use automation to achieve consistently high quality. “But we have very practical components,” he said. “The backlash of the press tells you how hard it is to go. Same approach with agitation, for example. The flower heads themselves, how we maintain the integrity of the trichome, the rise time of the wash, the temperatures: everything is handled like a small-scale race.”

That level of attention comes from the team. Matt Bearup, now a solventless QC manager, started growing and built the hash lab from the ground up all by himself. There are currently eight hash makers, all passionate about complex genetics and terpenes. Strains include not only the main terpenes, but also tasting notes and effects. Using the SC Lab framework, limonene as the current focus. “There’s not a lot of that in the hashish sector in particular. Several growers are moving in that direction.”

© Bountiful Farms

“There’s not a lot like it. Several breeders are moving in that direction.”

Bountiful Farms has been producing rosin since 2021, when the category had little traction© Bountiful Farms in Massachusetts. Since then, the company has expanded into a high-end cultivation center to produce even more rosin. They operate two production rooms and processes not only for themselves, but also for other clients including Native Sun, Breathe Free and u4ea. They have recently opened two new dispensaries, allowing them to expand into recreational retail from 2021. Another limited release of the full melt is planned, along with a dual-cartridge solvent-free pen developed with O2 Vapes, two flavors in one device.

“When you bring award-winning companies together, you get products that represent the industry at its best. Massachusetts deserves its place among the leaders in this industry. When we win, the industry wins.”

For more information:
Prosperous Farms
prosperous farm. take care of

Continue Reading

Cannabis News

Federal Drug Testing Rule Will Require ‘Directly Observed’ Urine Collection From Truck Drivers

Published

14 hours ago

on

May 25, 2026

By

“A month that goes by without an oral fluid test is another month when federal employees with paruresis face anxiety, discrimination, and barriers.”

By Kastalia Medrano, Filter

The Department of Transportation will require “directly observed” urine drug testing in federal employment situations where saliva testing is required but not possible. The clarification of DOT drug and alcohol testing procedures is the latest development in a years-long push by the trucking industry. oral fluid testing as an alternative to urine testing.

The new rule was published in the Federal Register on May 11, and will go into effect on June 10.

Truck drivers, who are subject to a large number of federal regulations, do not choose the method of drug testing, while DOT-regulated employers do. The campaign to implement oral fluid testing has been led by the American Trucking Association (ATA), which believes it is necessary to “keep drivers with disabilities off the road and maintain the trucking industry’s commitment to safety.”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) approved lab-based oral fluid testing in 2019, and the DOT finalized its regulations in 2023 allowing employers to choose this as an alternative to urine testing. But the actual implementation requires at least. Two laboratories approved by the Food and Drug Administration to process tests—one for the initial analysis and another to confirm the results. There are currently zero.

Oral fluid testing is attractive to many employers for a number of reasons, one of which is its effectiveness in detecting drug use within hours compared to urine drug testing. While the trucking industry has become the public face of the campaign, the regulations also affect federal workers in the commercial aviation, railroad, public transportation and pipeline sectors.

One of the main concerns expressed by the trucking industry has been that urine drug screens are not visible, making it easier to avoid oral fluid testing. Another concern is paruresis, commonly referred to as “shy bladder” syndrome: if a driver can’t urinate when they need to, they’re stuck for a three-hour wait, which obviously affects their arrival time. And if they still cannot produce urine during this period, they are considered to have refused to take the test and are removed from their duties. To return, they must “pass” a urine test watched by a same-sex observer.

New DOT the rule also updates existing terminology by replacing the word “gender” with the word “sex” in accordance with President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideological Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

“A month that goes without an oral fluid test is another month when federal employees with paruresis face anxiety, discrimination and professional barriers,” Dr. Steven Soifer, co-founder of the International Paruresis Society, said in March. “We have been working on this issue since our inception (30 years ago). Our members ask the same question every day: When will the federal government finish the work it has already approved?”

In April, at the request of ATA, six members of Congress he wrote Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services citing FDA regulatory hurdles as the reason why laboratories in the United States are not certified to process oral fluid tests.

They cited an analysis by Quest Diagnostics that showed a 370 percent increase in “replaced” urine specimens from 2022 to 2023. Quest has its own laboratory-based oral fluid collection method, Quantisal™, and has therefore been an ardent supporter of the campaign.

On May 1, the FDA a notice with the intention of considering revising the requirements for toxicology studies. That same day SAMHSA a the list It confirms that currently certified laboratories, which will probably be updated in the future, but are not available at the moment.

However, at the end of the day, HHS handles oral fluid testing in a similar scenario to hair follicle testing. The department promised to create guidelines for hair testing in 2015, but has yet to do so.

This the article originally posted by The filteran online magazine that deals with drug use, drug policy and human rights from a harm reduction perspective. Follow Filter on Bluesky, X or Facebookand sign up for their newsletter.

Marijuana Moment is made possible with the help of readers. If you rely on our pro-cannabis journalism to stay informed, consider a monthly Patreon pledge.

Continue Reading

Cannabis News

TSA clarifies that cannabis policy has not changed

Published

2 days ago

on

May 24, 2026

By











Over the past week, many news organizations have been running exaggerated headlines about a supposed change by the federal government to allow marijuana to be brought into airports and airplanes. But it’s not true, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) tells Marijuana Moment.

“TSA’s policy on medical marijuana has not changed,” a TSA spokeswoman said in an email Wednesday.

“According to the TSA website: If any illegal substance or evidence of criminal activity is found during the security screening, TSA will refer the matter to law enforcement,” they said. While it’s true that the agency’s list of medical marijuana “What can I bring?” section of its website was updated on April 27, there were no major changes in policy.

Currently, the website says “Yes,” passengers can carry medical marijuana in carry-on and checked bags with special instructions. But the TSA cannabis policy has said “Yes” to medical marijuana, with the same caveats, since 2019.

Read more at Marijuana Moment










Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending

Copyright © 2021 The Art of MaryJane Media