Arizona Campaign Seeks to End Retail Cannabis Sales 

A ballot initiative in Arizona seeks to end retail cannabis sales in the state, Capitol Media Services reports. The effort, led by Sean Noble, president of the political strategy firm American Encore, would still allow personal possession and cultivation of cannabis and maintain the parts of the law that allow expunging of cannabis related criminal records. 

Noble told Capitol Media Services that the 2020 voter-approved adult-use referendum has not lived up to its promise.   

“They said, ‘We’re not going to be marketing to children, we’re not going to be making this easy, we’re not going to be making THC levels super extreme.’” — Noble to Capitol News Service 

The petition, which was filed this month, will require 255,949 valid signatures by July 2. Noble said the campaign is being funded in part by Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national group opposed to loosened cannabis laws. 

Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, told Capitol News Service that anti-cannabis groups “failed to make the case for continuing to criminalize cannabis consumers in Arizona and other states where voters had a choice in the matter.”  

“Now they are trying to mislead voters into thinking that recriminalizing responsible behaviors and pushing consumers back to the underground market will somehow improve public health and safety,” he told Capitol News Service. “It’s shameful, disrespectful to voters and woefully misguided.” 

Noble helped find the 2016 opposition campaign against the campaign to legalize cannabis for adult use. In 2016, voters rejected the proposal by a 51-49 margin. Voters would ultimately approve the reforms four years later.