Fargo, N.D. – North Dakotan’s will decide if the state should legalize medical marijuana in addition to choosing a President on November 8th.
Measure 5 is 34 pages in length and also called the North Dakota Compassionate Care Act. If approved it would legalize the use of medical marijuana which means patients that suffer from cancer, PTSD, epilepsy and more would be eligible to receive 3 ounces of cannabis.
Ray Morgan is the petition chairman of Measure 5. He says the measure is based on Delaware, Montana and Arizona laws for medical marijuana.
"We wanted this to be very regulated so that the citizens of North Dakota would be comfortable in making sure this was with the rules and regulations restrictive," said Ray Morgan.
If passed the measure would be overseen by the North Dakota Department of Health. Inside the 34 page measure, police would have access to a database of patients, an application fee would be required and the dispensaries would have to operated as non profits.
"We don’t want big corporations to get involved in this we felt that it wouldn’t be prudent to have a big corporation come in," explained Morgan.
The North Dakota Department of Health released a memo including facts and figures on costs of the program. Those costs ring in at $8.7 million for the first two years.
Morgan says he thinks the Department of Health figures are overdone.
"Some of these figure they came up with we find disturbing, also too there has never been a piece of legislation that legislators have ever written or a measure that has been drawn up that is absolutely perfect," stated Morgan.
If the measure is approved, it would take effect within 30 days.
This is the first time the measure is on the ballot, it was attempted to get on the ballot in 2014 but did not make it due to fake signatures.
Minnesota has already passed laws about medical marijuana. Morgan says he feels Minnesota is too strict. In Minnesota, patients can not smoke the plant, dispensaries have been set up throughout the state and patients only have access to pill or oil form.
We’ve attached the measure and Department of Health information to this story.
News Moderator: Katelyn Baker
Full Article: Measure 5 – What It Means For You?
Author: Ashley Bishop
Contact: (701) 237-5211
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: Valley News Live
